2005 24 Hours of Le Mans

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The 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 73rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 2005.

This race marked the record 7th victory for Tom Kristensen, including his 6th straight win.

Qualifying results

Provisional pole positions in each class are denoted in bold. The fastest time set by each entry is denoted with a gray background.

Race

The 2005 race saw exceptionally hot weather,^[1] with temperatures over 30 °C. This hot weather would cause a high rate of mechanical failures as well as several race incidents. However, the Pescarolo Sports took the lead at start with #16 running exceptionally faster of the two. Due to Audi using an older chassis which did not meet hybrid regulations, the R8s were much slower over a lap due to a small air restrictor on the engine and penalty weights. This caused slow top speeds down the straights, while the GT1 class was closer than ever in 2005 in terms of trap speeds and the Aston Martins were comparable to the Audi LMP this year. Audi therefore had to attempt to outwit the Pescarolos on reliability instead of overall speed.

The #17 Pescarolo was plagued by incidents throughout the race, hitting a Panoz then suffering a tire failure that damaged the rear bodywork. All of these misadventures happened while Soheil Ayari was driving, while his teammate Sébastien Loeb proved to be able to drive as fast as his teammates for his first race on a closed track.

The #16 lost the lead eventually due to a gearbox failure causing a long pit stop, falling well back before managing to reach second position again at sunrise, establishing a lap record in the night. The Pescarolo was lapping fairly consistently at approximately five seconds per lap faster than the Audi, meaning if it kept up the pace the finish promised to be extremely close.

Unfortunately Pescarolo came in for a pit stop and was pulled into the garage to deal with overheating issues. The car was back onto the track quickly, with Érik Comas as driver. The Audi now had a two lap lead, and the Pescarolo was unable to maintain its lapping speed in order to avoid overheating, dashing all hopes of beating the Audi on the track.

Taking the win, Tom Kristensen set an absolute record of seven victories including six in a row, pulling ahead of legend Jacky Ickx who has a total of 6 wins, equal only to Kristensen's winning streak. In addition, teammate Marco Werner completed the Triple Crown of endurance racing (which also consists the 24 Hours of Daytona, which he won in 1995, and the 12 Hours of Sebring, which he won in 2005 and again in 2007, as well as Le Mans in 2006 and 2007), a feat few drivers (including Ickx) could achieve. Along with Andy Wallace, he would also complete the "grand slam", also winning the Petit Le Mans the prior year to Le Mans.

Corvette Racing delivered a dominating win in the GT1 class, fifth and sixth overall and at their best pace yet. The first entry from Aston Martin since 1963 had a respectable finish that foretold an epic duel for the top of the GT1 class in the following years.

Official results

Class winners marked in bold. Cars not completing 75% of the winner's distance are listed as Not Classified (NC).

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
					Engine
1	LMP1	3	ADT Champion Racing	Tom Kristensen JJ Lehto Marco Werner	Audi R8	M	370
					Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
2	LMP1	16	Pescarolo Sport	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Érik Comas	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid	M	368
					Judd GV5 5.0L V10
3	LMP1	2	ADT Champion Racing	Frank Biela Allan McNish Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	M	364
					Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
4	LMP1	4	Audi PlayStation Team Oreca	Franck Montagny Jean-Marc Gounon Stéphane Ortelli	Audi R8	M	362
					Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
5	GT1	64	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	M	349
					Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8
6	GT1	63	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Max Papis Johnny O'Connell	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	M	347
					Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8
7	LMP1	10	Racing for Holland	Jan Lammers Elton Julian John Bosch	Dome S101	D	346
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
8	LMP1	12	Courage Compétition	Dominik Schwager Alexander Frei Christian Vann	Courage C60H	Y	339
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
9	GT1	59	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Stéphane Sarrazin Darren Turner	Aston Martin DBR9	M	333
					Aston Martin 6.0L V12
10	GT2	71	Alex Job Racing BAM! Motorsport	Mike Rockenfeller Marc Lieb Leo Hindery	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Y	332
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
11	GT2	90	Petersen Motorsports White Lightning Racing	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Timo Bernhard	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	M	331
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
12	GT1	50	Larbre Compétition	Patrice Goueslard Olivier Dupard Vincent Vosse	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	M	324
					Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
13	GT2	80	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Johannes van Overbeek Lonnie Pechnik Seth Neiman	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	M	323
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
14	LMP1	7	Creation Autosportif Ltd.	Nicolas Minassian Jamie Campbell-Walter Andy Wallace	DBA 03S	M	322
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
15	GT2	76	IMSA Performance	Raymond Narac Sébastien Dumez Romain Dumas	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	M	322
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
16	LMP1	18	Rollcentre Racing	Martin Short João Barbosa Vanina Ickx	Dallara SP1	M	318
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
17	GT1	61	Cirtek Motorsport Russian Age Racing Convers Team	Nikolai Fomenko Alexey Vasilyev Christophe Bouchut	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	M	315
					Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
18	GT2	72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Luc Alphand Jérôme Policand Christopher Campbell	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	M	311
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
19	GT2	89	Sebah Automotive Ltd.	Lars-Erik Nielsen Thorkild Thyrring Pierre Ehret	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	D	307
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
20	LMP2	25	Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML)	Thomas Erdos Mike Newton Warren Hughes	MG-Lola EX264	M	305
					Judd XV675 3.4L V8
21	LMP2	36	Paul Belmondo Racing	Karim A. Ojjeh Claude-Yves Gosselin Adam Sharpe	Courage C65	M	300
					Ford (AER) 2.0L Turbo I4
22	LMP2	37	Paul Belmondo Racing	Didier André Paul Belmondo Rick Sutherland	Courage C65	M	294
					Ford (AER) 2.0L Turbo I4
23	GT2	83	Seikel Motorsport	Philip Collin David Shep Horst Felbermayr, Sr.	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Y	274
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
24	LMP2	30	Kruse Motorsport	Tim Mullen Ian Mitchell Phil Bennett	Courage C65	P	268
					Judd XV675 3.4L V8
25 NC	LMP1	9	Team Jota Zytek Engineering Ltd.	Sam Hignett John Stack Haruki Kurosawa	Zytek 04S	D	325
					Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8
26 NC	GT2	95	Racesport Peninsula TVR	John Hartshorne Richard Stanton Piers Johnson	TVR Tuscan T400R	D	256
					TVR Speed Six 4.0L I6
27 NC	LMP2	24	Rachel Welter	Yojiro Terada Patrice Roussel William Binnie	WR LMP04	P	233
					Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4
28 DNF	GT1	58	Aston Martin Racing	Peter Kox Pedro Lamy Tomáš Enge	Aston Martin DBR9	M	327
					Aston Martin 6.0L V12
29 DNF	LMP1	17	Pescarolo Sport	Soheil Ayari Éric Hélary Sébastien Loeb	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid	M	288
					Judd GV5 5.0L V10
30 DNF	GT2	92	Cirtek Motorsport Conversbank	Stefan Eriksson Joe Macari Rob Wilson	Ferrari 360 Modena GTC	D	218
					Ferrari F131 3.6L V8
31 DNF	LMP1	5	Jim Gainer International	Ryo Michigami Seiji Ara Katsutomo Kaneishi	Dome S101Hb	D	193
					Mugen MF408S 4.0L V8
32 DNF	GT2	78	Panoz Motor Sports	Patrick Bourdais Bryan Sellers Marino Franchitti	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	P	185
					Ford (Élan) 5.0L V8
33 DNF	LMP2	35	G-Force Racing / Bokkenrijders	Val Hillebrand Frank Hahn Gavin Pickering	Courage C65	D	183
					Judd XV675 3.4L V8
34 DNF	GT2	91	T2M Motorsport	Yutaka Yamagishi Xavier Pompidou Jean-Luc Blanchemain	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	D	183
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
35 DNF	LMP1	8	Rollcentre Racing	Michael Krumm Bobby Verdon-Roe Harold Primat	Dallara SP1	M	133
					Nissan 3.6L Turbo V8
36 DNF	LMP2	32	Intersport Racing	Liz Halliday Sam Hancock Gregor Fisken	Lola B05/40	G	119
					AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
37 DNF	LMP2	34	Miracle Motorsports	John Macaluso Ian James Andy Lally	Courage C65	K	115
					AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
38 DNF	LMP2	31	Noël del Bello Racing	Romain Iannetta Christophe Pillon Ni Amorim	Courage C65	M	99
					CG-Mecachrome 3.4L V8
39 DNF	GT1	69	JMB Racing	Jean-René De Fournoux Stéphane Daoudi Jim Matthews	Ferrari 575-GTC	P	84
					Ferrari F133 6.0L V12
40 DNF	GT2	85	Spyker Squadron b.v.	Tom Coronel Peter van Merksteijn Donny Crevels	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R	D	76
					Audi 3.8L V8
41 DNF	GT2	93	Scuderia Ecosse	Andrew Kirkaldy Nathan Kinch Anthony Reid	Ferrari 360 Modena GTC	P	70
					Ferrari F131 3.6L V8
42 DNF	GT1	51	BMS Scuderia Italia	Fabrizio Gollin Christian Pescatori Miguel Ramos	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	P	67
					Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
43 DNF	GT1	52	BMS Scuderia Italia	Michele Bartyan Matteo Malucelli Toni Seiler	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	P	60
					Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
44 DNF	LMP2	23	Gerard Welter	Jean-Bernard Bouvet Robert Julien Sylvain Boulay	WR LMP04	P	53
					Peugeot ES9J4S 3.4L V6
45 DNF	LMP1	13	Courage Compétition	Jonathan Cochet Shinji Nakano Bruce Jouanny	Courage C60H	Y	52
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
46 DNF	LMP2	20	Pir Competition	Pierre Bruneau Marc Rostan Philippe Haezebrouck	Pilbeam MP93	M	32
					JPX 3.4L V6
47 DNF	LMP2	39	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Bob Berridge Gareth Evans Peter Owen	Lola B05/40	D	30
					AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
48 DNF	LMP2	33	Intersport Racing Cirtek Motorsport	Juan Barazi Sergey Zlobin Bastien Brière	Courage C65	M	30
					AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
49 DNF	GT2	77	Panoz Motor Sports	Bill Auberlen Robin Liddell Scott Maxwell	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	P	27
					Ford (Élan) 5.0L V8

Statistics

• Pole Position - #16 Pescarolo Sport - 3:34.715
• Fastest Lap - #16 Pescarolo Sport - 3:34.968
• Distance - 5050.5 km
• Average Speed - 210.216 km/h
• Highest trap speed - #16 Pescarolo Sport - 329 km/h

Trophy Winners

• Index of Thermal Efficiency - #59 Aston Martin Racing

References