will be held on Saturday and Sunday centennial edition 24 hours of Le Mans in FranceWhere the Toyota GR010 Hybrid hypercars are the top contenders after their victories in 2022 and their races in the current season of the season World Resistance Championship (WEC).
Toyota winning the last five editionsis poised to declare victory in the centennial race, the 91st edition. It is also in a position to break some of the most important records of the iconic French race. Despite 9 wins in total, Ferrari faces a tough battlelike PorscheDespite having the highest number of wins in history with 19, he is less likely than the Japanese team.
24-hour Le Mans records
– 9 wins (pilot): this is the most wins for a pilot. It is still owned by Danish driver Tom Kristensen, who retired in 2014, and therefore will never reach the legendary figure of 10 Le Mans wins in 24 hours.
– 33 entries (pilot): this is the highest number of entries and to the reputation of the French Henri Pescarolo. Added 33 entries, ten with his team ‘Pescarolo Sport’, plus two as a media consultant in 2010 and two each with ‘Pescarolo Team’ in 2011 and 2012.
– 72 years of attendance and 850 registered cars: This is a nearly unbeatable record for the most entries for a manufacturer. Porsche has been represented (officially or by private competitors) at Le Mans uninterruptedly since 1951, ie 72 years in a row, with a total of 850 cars registered as prototypes or GTs. Behind him is Ferrari, with a (non-continuous) existence of over 61 years and 460 cars at the exit. Another record attributed to Porsche is a race participation record: 33 of the 49 cars entered in 1971 were from the German brand.
– 251.882 km/h: average speed of the fastest lap History at Le Mans. German driver Hans-Joachim Stuck’s qualifying Porsche 962 record of 251,815 km/h in 1985 (3:14.80 on a 13,626 km track) was improved in 2017 by Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi with a time of 3:14,791. Again in qualifying with the Toyota TS050-Hybrid, with 251.882 km/h.
– 248,628 km/h: average speed of the fastest lap -in the race- French circuit history (regardless of length). With 244,387 in 1971, British Jackie Oliver (Porsche 917LH) held this record for 37 years, but in 2008 French Stéphane Sarrazin (Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP) beat him with 246.068, followed by France’s Loïc Duval in 2010. (Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP) set new records with 246,463, in 2015 German André Lotterer (Audi R18 e-tron) with 248,458 and in 2019 British Mike Conway with Toyota TS050-Hybrid set new records with 248,628. The time is 3:17,297. In 2022, the record was set by Argentinian José María ‘Pechito’ López on lap 371 in the final hour of the race, with a Toyota GR010-Hybrid of 3:27,749 and an average of 236,119 km/h.
– 5,410.713 km: this is the most kilometers traveled within 24 hours. This record was held by the Porsche 917, driven by Austrian Helmut Marko and Dutch Gijs Van Lennep, covering 5,335,313 km at an average speed of 222,304 km/h over 39 years in 1971. It was broken up by three Audi R15 TDI+ in 2010 alone. , which surpassed this milestone and made a ‘hat-trick’: the first, driven by Germans Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller and Frenchman Romain Dumas, after driving 397 laps (16.5 laps per hour), or an average of 225,228 to 5,410,713 km. km/h, set the new record. Last year’s winners drove 5,177.17 km (380 laps at an average speed of 15.83 per hour).
– 405 km/h: this is the highest speed reached On the track in 1988 by Frenchman Roger Dorchy with a WM P88. It was on ‘Hunaudières’ (installed for the 1990 edition) at a time when there was still no variant. The chance of breaking this record is very low as there is not a long enough straight.