In 2005, Tom Kristensen secured a place for the kingdom of Denmark in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans becoming the new record holder with eight victories. He put an end to forty-three years of Belgian supremacy since 1962 by Olivier Gendebien and Jacky Ickx.

Olivier Gendebien, who had already won in 1958, 1960 and 1961, in 1962 became the first four-time winner of the 24 Hours ahead of British driver Woolf Barnato (1928-29-30) and the Italian-American Luigi Chinetti (1932-34-49). His success rate is also convincing: in eight appearances (1955 to 1962), he had four wins (all with Ferrari), a third, a fifth place and just two retirements. Four years after the last victory of Gendebien, Jacky Ickx raced his first 24 hours.

Should we still present Jacky Ickx? Although Tom Kristensen has passed his record of wins in La Sarthe, he will would not contest that Ickx is still the original “Monsieur Le Mans”. After two retirements in 1966 and 67 Jacky Ickx took the chequered flag for the first time in 1969 in the 24 Hours at the wheel of a Ford GT40 ... the victor, only a few meters ahead of the Porsche 908 of Hans Herrmann, who he passed in the last lap! The legend had started. After sharing his time between Formula 1 and endurance racing in the early '70s, he resumed his success with three consecutive wins with Porsche (1975-76-77). He was then tied with Gendebien. Two more wins in 1981 and 1982 put him firmly in the pantheon of the 24 hours.

With ten victories between them, Olivier Gendebien and Jacky Ickx were the conquering heroes of La Sarthe for more than four decades and embodied the image of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the vitality of racing in Belgium, a country that has given us great endurance drivers like Paul Frère, Lucien Bianchi and Thierry Boutsen.