In just over one week’s time (Saturday 19 September), the 88th running of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans – round 7 of FIA WEC Season 8 – will get underway.
To celebrate the occasion, we wanted to provide some insights from the WEC era at Le Mans. Below are some of our favourite event-based statistics from the past eight years.
* The 77 LMP1 cars that have started #LeMans24 in the WEC era have combined for 22,599 laps – a total distance covered of 307,934 km, or 191,346 miles. It is the equivalent of driving from the Circuit de la Sarthe to the Champs-Elysees and back 736 times!
* Over the past eight years, 95 different drivers have raced in LMP1 at #LeMans24, representing 21 different nations, across Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.
* #LeMans24 2018 saw Toyota become the third manufacturer in the WEC era to win the great race, and the 25th overall. Its maiden win put the brand alongside winners such as Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, McLaren and BMW, before a second victory in 2019 drew them level with Lorraine-Deitrich and Bugatti.
* In the WEC era, the overall pole-sitter at #LeMans24 has won 50% of the time – 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2018.
* Cars from 12 different manufacturers have appeared on the LMP1 grid at #LeMans24: Audi, Lola, HPD, Dome, Pescarolo, Toyota, Rebellion/Oreca, Porsche, Nissan, Enso/CLM, Ginetta and BR Engineering.
* The fastest speed recorded in the WEC occurred at #LeMans24 in 2019. SMP Racing’s Vandoorne set a 350.1 kmh benchmark for the first time at the Test Day, before repeating the achievement on lap 40 of the race, for the same speed – 217.5 mph.
* Twenty-two Britons have raced at #LeMans24 in the top class, since 2012, the most of any nationality. They comprise overall race winners, in McNish and Tandy, 2013 WEC GTE Am champion Hall, 2014 WEC World Champion Davidson, LMP2 winners Tincknell, Turvey and Jarvis, and 2009 F1 World Champion Button.
* Seventy-seven different LMP1 cars have appeared on the starting grid since 2012. Of these 77, 49 classified at the chequered flag, with 28 DNF, not classified or excluded – a 64% finish rate.
