The Spirit of Le Mans trophy rewards the sort of passion and implication in endurance racing that truly embodies the spirit of Le Mans. Jacques Nicolet is the perfect illustration of the spirit of the iconic 24-hour endurance race.

It’s hard to say which is more successful: Nicolet’s real estate or motor racing business. His sense of entrepreneurship has definitely contributed to both. A motorsports fan from a young age, Nicolet set aside his hobby as an adult to pursue a career in real estate. His first endurance race was at Le Castellet in a Giulia 1600 at the age of 42. In 2003, he started a business restoring and preparing historic vehicles for racing, called Heritage Racing Cars. With trackside networking at various races, one thing led to another and he took over Saulnier Racing in 2006. A year later he entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time. In 2009, Saulnier Racing became Oak Racing and began an LM P2 campaign in the Asian Le Mans Series. For the next few years, racing took a back seat as the entrepreneur focused on developing his business but Jacques Nicolet never lost sight of his aim to become a racing car manufacturer. And he did just that. In 2013, his Morgans topped the LM P2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Jacques Nicolet: When we won at Le Mans in both constructor and team capacities, to me it was like winning the légion d’honneur. So today is like becoming racing royalty. I would simply like to thank the whole endurance racing family for accepting me. Thank you to all my staff, especially those at Oak Racing and Onroak Automotive who are with me every step of the way. I want to thank my children Elsa and Pierre and tell Sylvie, who has been my wife for 45 years, how much I love her. I wish you all an excellent race.

New content and exclusive videos: myACO goes the extra mile for you! Sign up for free. More information on myACO.

Photo: Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, presented a very emotional Jacques Nicolet with the Spirit of Le Mans trophy.