The Esperante GTLM’s 2006 win was all down to Don Panoz, an American of Italian and Irish origin descent who made his fortune in the pharmaceutical industry (he invented the nicotine patch). Panoz launched the Petit Le Mans race on his own Road Atlanta circuit in 1998 and founded the American Le Mans Series the following year. At the same time, he formed his own motorsports company and began making cars. With their astonishing shape the front-engined Panoz prototypes quickly won over the fans’ hearts, especially at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Yet it was in the GT class that victory finally came for Panoz with the 2006 win for the #81 Esperante GTLM, which also finished fifteenth overall.

The orange Panoz Esperante GTLM was fielded by Team LNT, an outfit put together in 2004 by British businessman and gentleman driver Lawrence Tomlinson. Richard Dean and rookie Tom Kimber-Smith shared the wheel with Tomlinson for their Le Mans triumph. That GT win was also the start of a long string of successes for Kimber-Smith including two consecutive Le Mans LM P2 wins, first in 2011 (with the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan, and co-drivers Karim Ojjeh and Olivier Lombard) then again in 2012 (with the Starworks Motorsport Honda HPD, alongside Enzo Potolicchio and Ryan Dalziel). Team LNT has continued to race ever since and was victorious again this year when Charlie Robertson and former Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy took the inaugural European Le Mans Series LM P3 title in a Ginetta LM P3 built by Tomlinson’s own company.

Available as a limited edition scale model – the ideal Christmas gift – the #81 Panoz Eperante GTLM made a distinctive entry into the Le Mans 24 Hours hall of fame thanks to a fine class victory and its unconventional design
 

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO | Translated from French by Clair Pickworth

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY 18 JUNE 2006, FINISH LINE. The Esperante GTLM takes the chequered flag for Panoz’s only victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.