Review: No Rain, No Repeat - McLaren F1 GTR & the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours
Background
After McLaren’s sensational debut victory during the sodden Le Mans 24 Hours in 1995 there was no question a strong contingent of the cars from Woking would look to attend 1996’s running of the most important endurance contest in world racing.
During late January it was announced that the 1996 Le Mans attack would be bolstered by a number of BMW Motorsport-contracted drivers.
At the time, both BMW and McLaren denied the move would be in a works / factory capacity from either company; BMW had recruited McLaren to help with the development of its Super Touring programme and it seemed that some of the German firm’s drivers would simply be loaned out to McLaren’s customer teams for the race at la Sarthe.
As McLaren’s engine supplier for the F1 programme, BMW had a vested interest in another strong performance. With Le Mans expected to mark the competition debut for Porsche’s scratch-built 911 GT1, the Munich firm were desperate to outdo their domestic rival.
Despite continual denials from BMW and McLaren over the next few weeks, rumours persisted that at least two of the eight customer GTRs under construction for 1996 would be placed with teams specifically for Le Mans where they would be piloted by drivers selected by BMW and McLaren.
McLaren went on to unveil the F1 GTR 96 during the first week of February. As had been the case with 01R the previous year, the machine on show, chassis 10R, would be retained in an official capacity for test and development duty. The eight customer cars would come on stream during the next couple of months.
The second week of February saw McLaren concede that BMW Motorsport would run a brace of cars in an official capacity at Le Mans. A third GTR would also be supplied to act as a spare. It was expected that the programme would be managed by Gabriele Rafanelli’s Bigazzi team which was contesting the Super Touring Cup on BMW’s behalf in Germany. Any extra financial help would come direct from BMW which enabled McLaren to honour their gentleman’s agreement that all F1 GTR customers would get equal factory treatment.
As for the other teams hoping to race at Le Mans, two entries apiece were filed from Gulf Racing and Dave Price Racing (DPR). There were also single car entries from the Giroix Racing Team, BBA Competition and Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing (the latter having been an in-house McLaren filing).
After the BPR GT Championship season opener at Paul Ricard on March 3rd, BMW Motorsport held a press conference to confirm that Bigazzi would run two cars on its behalf at Le Mans. At the presentation, chassis 08R was displayed in BMW’s familiar white, blue and red chequered livery with Fina backing.
Nelson Piquet, Jacques Laffite, Johnny Cecotto, Steve Soper, Marc Duez and Danny Sullivan were announced as drivers.
In preparation for the visit to la Sarthe, Bigazzi would attend the Silverstone 4 Hour BPR GT Championship race in May.
1996 Le Mans Pre-Qualifying
Eight McLarens attended Le Mans Pre-Qualifying on April 28th. It followed an open test at Paul Ricard where the BMW Motorsport McLarens had been outpaced by Porsche’s radical new 911 GT1 at the ominous rate of two seconds per lap.
Overall fastest time at Le Mans went to the Team Scandia Ferrari 333 SP driven by Eric van de Poele.
Quickest of the GT1 cars was ‘95 winner JJ Lehton in 12R for Gulf Racing. Second and fifth fastest in the GT1 category were the Porsche 911 GT1s of Stuck / Boutsen / Wollek and Dalmas / Wendlinger. However, their lap times did little to diminish the suspicion of sandbagging.
Many teams and drivers voiced their displeasure at the situation, but claims the reverse engineered 911 GT1 threatened the revival of GT racing were laughed off by Porsche motorsport boss, Herbert Ampferer.
Nevertheless, it was clear that Porsche were happy to breach the ethics of GT racing for their own benefit, something the firm had done two years prior with the Dauer 962 LM of 1994.
As for the rest of the GT1 field, Raphanel went third quickest for Gulf (twelfth overall), Laffite / Soper were fourth for BMW Motorsport (13th overall), John Nielsen was sixth for DPR West (17th overall), Johnny Cecotto was seventh for BMW Motorsport (19th overall), David Brabham was eighth in McLaren’s R&D car which appeared under the Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing entry (20th overall) and Andy Wallace was ninth quickest in GT1 driving the DPR Harrods machine (21st overall).
The BBA Competition McLaren of Stanley Dickens, Arie Luyendyk and Michel Ligonnet failed to make the cut in 44th overall (26th quickest of the GT1 cars).
After the Silverstone 4 Hour BPR GT Championship race at Silverstone two weeks later, McLaren headed to Paul Ricard with chassis 10R, but the test had to be curtailed when David Brabham crashed out.
1996 Le Mans 24 Hours
The 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours took place over the weekend of June 15th and 16th. The McLarens arrived in France with a few minor updates to include some distinctive aerodynamically profiled headlight cowls.
In a break with tradition, the Le Mans organisers (the Automobile Club de l’Ouest) decided to arrange the first dozen cars on the grid with the six fastest from the WSC and GT1 classes positioned side-by-side.
The top five lined as follows: pole Didier Theys / Michele Alboreto / Pierluigi Martini (Joest TWR Porsche WSC95), second Yannick Dalmas / Scott Goodyear / Karl Wendlinger (Porsche 911 GT1), third Didier Cottaz / Jerome Policand / Philippe Alliot (Courage C36), fourth Bob Wollek / Thierry Boutsen / Hans-Joachim Stuck (Porsche 911 GT1), fifth Eric van de Poele / Eric Bachelart / Marc Goossens (Scandia Ferrari 333 SP).
Fastest of the McLarens was the BMW Motorsport entry of Steve Soper / Marc Duez / Jacques Laffite in sixth, behind which was the other Joest TWR Porsche WSC95 of Davy Jones / Alex Wurz / Manuel Reuter. JJ Lehto / James Weaver / Ray Bellm qualified eighth in their Gulf GTR, the works Riley & Scott MkIII of Wayne Taylor / Scott Sharp / Jim Pace was ninth and sister Gulf F1 of Pierre-Henri Raphanel / Lindsay Owen-Jones / David Brabham rounded out the top ten.
As for the other four McLarens in attendance, Johnny Cecotto / Danny Sullivan / Nelson Piquet were twelfth (BMW Motorsport), Jean-Denis Deletraz / Maurizio Sandro Sala / Fabien Giroix were 16th (Giroix Racing Team), John Nielsen / Thomas Bscher / Peter Kox were 22nd (DPR West) and Olivier Grouillard / Derek Bell / Andy Wallace were 24th (DPR Harrods).
The race unusually started an hour earlier than normal (3pm) so that the huge contingent of British fans could watch the England versus Scotland Euro 96 football match.
Having blitzed the McLarens in qualifying, it was no surprise that the two GT1 Porsches stormed into an early lead although they were subsequently overtaken by the brace of TWR WSC95 Porsches on lap four.
The only McLaren not to make the chequered flag was the Giroix Racing Team entry of Deletraz / Giroix / Sala which suffered a blown engine during the eleventh hour. By this time, all four of the Ferrari F40s that started the race had already retired.
Meanwhile, the Bigazzi and Gulf crews headed the McLaren challenge and ran well inside the top ten. Unfortunately though, their blistering pace (an attempt to keep up with the GT1 Porsches) eventually took its toll on the transmissions of all four cars.
At 4:30am on Sunday morning, Duez brought lead McLaren into the pits from seventh with the car stuck in gear. It was the first of two gearbox changes (plus a radiator change) for 16R. Soper, Duez and Laffite eventually recovered to place eleventh overall (ninth in the GT1 class).
Ninth spot went to the equally quick Gulf GTR of Lehto / Weaver / Bellm which had come in for its own 90 minute gearbox change at midday on Sunday having been running third at the time.
Another car to require a gearbox change was the Bigazzi GTR of Cecotto / Piquet / Sullivan which had been promoted to seventh when the sister car called in for its first unscheduled stop. Having lost an hour in the pits themselves, Cecotto / Piquet / Sullivan eventually finished eighth overall and sixth in the GT1 category.
The Harrods-backed DPR McLaren of Wallace / Grouillard / Bellm had been universally described by its drivers as very difficult to race. Despite only having access to fourth and fifth gears during the last four hours on Sunday, 06R came home sixth overall and fifth in the GT1 category.
Fifth overall went to the Gulf McLaren of Raphanel / Owen-Jones / Brabham which had suffered a fractured clutch line during the 19th hour. Chassis 15R had also been making the same tell-tale noises of impending gearbox failure as its sister car, but battled on to claim fourth in the GT1 category.
Best of the McLarens was the West-backed DPR entry of Nielsen / Bscher / Kox which was not the quickest GTR but by far the most reliable. Having only lost 16 minutes for a set of new brakes discs to be fitted, 03R missed out on a podium spot by just two laps. It finished fourth overall and third in the GT1 class.
Outright victory at Le Mans in 1996 went to the Joest TWR Porsche WSC95 of Jones / Wurz / Reuter which never missed a beat.
Ominously, second and third spots were claimed by the 911 GT1s of Wollek / Boutsen / Stuck and Dalmas / Goodyear / Wendlinger which secured the top two positions in the GT1 category.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: McLaren - https://www.mclaren.com & Automobile Club de l’Ouest - https://www.lemans.org/
