1983 24 Hours of Le Mans

1983 24 Hours of Le Mans
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Index: Races | Winners

Closeup of the winning Schuppan/Holbert/Haywood Rothmans Porsche 956.

The 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 51st Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1983. It was also the fourth round of both the World Endurance Championship and European Endurance Championship.

The win was fought right down to the line between the Rothmans Porsche 956s of Al Holbert (#3 car) and Derek Bell (#1). Bell was able to un-lap himself as the Holbert car was slowed by overheating (engine damage caused by an airflow blockage to the radiator that cooled the heads)and finally seized up on the last lap; luckily for Holbert it re-fired and made it to the end with smoke trailing from the exhaust. Holbert crossed the finish line 17 seconds ahead of a fast closing Bell.

Vern Schuppan, after finishing third in 1975, and second in 1977 and 1982, became the first Australian driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans since Bernard Rubin won driving a Bentley 4½ Litre in 1928.

Official results

Le Mans in 1983

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyres	Laps
					Engine
1	C	3	Rothmans Porsche	Vern Schuppan Hurley Haywood Al Holbert	Porsche 956	D	370
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
2	C	1	Rothmans Porsche	Jacky Ickx Derek Bell	Porsche 956	D	370
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
3	C	21	Porsche Kremer Racing	Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Philippe Alliot	Porsche 956	G	364
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
4	C	12	Sorga S.A. / Joest Racing	Volkert Merl Clemens Schickentanz Mauricio de Narváez	Porsche 956	D	361
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
5	C	16	John Fitzpatrick Racing	John Fitzpatrick Guy Edwards Rupert Keegan	Porsche 956	G	358
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
6	C	8	Sorga S.A. / Joest Racing	Klaus Ludwig Stefan Johansson Bob Wollek	Porsche 956	D	354
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
7	C	18	Obermaier Racing	Axel Plankenhorn Desiré Wilson Jürgen Lässig	Porsche 956	D	347
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
8	C	14	Canon Racing GTi Engineering	Jonathan Palmer Jan Lammers Richard Lloyd	Porsche 956	?	339
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
9	C	46	Sauber Team Switzerland	Diego Montoya Tony Garcia Albert Naon	Sauber C7	D	338
					BMW M88 3.5L I6
10	C	47	Preston Henn T-Bird Swap Shop John Fitzpatrick Racing	Preston Henn Jean-Louis Schlesser Claude Ballot-Léna	Porsche 956	G	327
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
11	B	93	Charles Ivey Racing	John Cooper Paul Smith David Ovey	Porsche 930	?	303
					Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
12	C Jr	60	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Takashi Yorino Yojiro Terada Yoshimi Katayama	Mazda 717C	D	302
					Mazda 13B 1.3L 2-Rotor
13	B	92	Georg Memminger	Georg Memminger Heinz Kuhn-Wiess Fritz Müller	Porsche 930	D	299
					Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
14	C	54	Valentin Bertapelle	Bruno Sotty Gérard Cuynet	URD C81	D	292
					BMW M88 3.5L I6
15	B	95	Equipe Alméras Fréres	Jacques Alméras Jean-Marie Alméras Jacques Guillot	Porsche 930	M	279
					Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
16	C	10	WM Secateva	Roger Dorchy Alain Courdec Pascal Fabre	WM P83	M	278
					Peugeot PRV 2.8L Turbo V6
17	C	41	EMKA Productions Ltd.	Tiff Needell Steve O'Rourke Nick Faure	EMKA C83/1	?	275
					Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3L V8
18	C Jr	61	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Steve Soper Jeff Allam James Weaver	Mazda 717C	D	267
					Mazda 13B 1.3L 2-Rotor
19	C	29	Christian Bussi	Daniel Herregods Jean-Paul Libert Pascal Witmeur	Rondeau M382	D	265
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
20	B	96	Michel Lateste	Raymond Touroul Michel Lateste Michel Bienvault	Porsche 930	M	264
					Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
21 NC	B	97	Raymond Boutinaud	Raymond Boutinaud Patrick Gonin Alain le Page	Porsche 928S	D	234
					Porsche 4.7L V8
22 NC	C	53	A.S. École Supérieure de Tourisme	François Hesnault Thierry Perrier Bernard Salam	Lancia LC1	D	232
					Lancia 1.4L Turbo I4
23 NC	C	51	Scuderia Sivama Motor	Oscar Larrauri Massimo Sigala Max Cohen-Olivar	Lancia LC1	D	217
					Lancia 1.4L Turbo I4
24 NC	C Jr	65	François Duret	John Sheldon François Duret Ian Harrower	De Cadenet-Lola LM	?	214
					Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8
25 DSQ	C	30	Primagaz	Lucien Guitteny Pierre Yver Bernard de Dryver	Rondeau M382	D	266
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
26 DNF	B	94	Claude Haldi	Claude Haldi Günther Steckkönig Bernd Schiller	Porsche 930	M	217
					Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
27 DNF	C	2	Rothmans Porsche	Jochen Mass Stefan Bellof	Porsche 956	D	281
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
28 DNF	C	39	Viscount Downe - Pace Petroleum	Ray Mallock Mike Salmon Steve Earle	Nimrod NRA/C2B	A	218
					Aston Martin-Tickford DP1229 5.3L V8
29 DNF	C	24	Ford France	Thierry Boutsen Henri Pescarolo	Rondeau M482	M	174
					Ford Cosworth DFL 4.0L V8
30 DNF	C	20	Cooke Racing	Ralph Kent-Cooke Jim Adams François Sérvanin	Lola T610	G	165
					Ford Cosworth DFL 4.0L V8
31 DNF	B	90	Angelo Pallavicini Brun Motorsport	Prince Leopold von Bayern Angelo Pallavicini Jens Winther	BMW M1	D	160
					BMW M88 3.5L I6
32 DNF	C Jr	63	Scuderia Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti Martino Finotto Marco Vanoli	Alba AR2	P	158
					Giannini Carma FF 1.9L Turbo I4
33 DNF	C	28	Jean Rondeau Ford France	Vic Elford Joël Gouhier Anne-Charlotte Verney	Rondeau M379	?	136
					Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0L V8
34 DNF	C	6	Martini Lancia	Paolo Barilla Alessandro Nannini Jean-Claude Andruet	Lancia LC2	D	135
					Ferrari 268C 2.6L Turbo V8
35 DNF	C	5	Martini Lancia	Piercarlo Ghinzani Hans Heyer Michele Alboreto	Lancia LC2	D	121
					Ferrari 268C 2.6L Turbo V8
36 DNF	C	9	WM Secateva	Jean-Daniel Raulet Michel Pignard Didier Theys	WM P83	M	102
					Peugeot PRV 2.8L Turbo V6
37 DNF	C	26	Ford France	Alain Ferté Jean Rondeau Michel Ferté	Rondeau M482	M	90
					Ford Cosworth DFL 4.0L V8
38 DNF	C	11	John Fitzpatrick Racing	John Fitzpatrick David Hobbs Dieter Quester	Porsche 956	G	135
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
39 DNF	C	13	Primagaz	Alain de Cadenet Yves Courage Michel Dubois	Cougar C01B	M	86
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
40 DNF	C	22	Porsche Kremer Racing	Derek Warwick Patrick Gaillard Frank Jelinski	Porsche-Kremer CK5	G	76
					Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6
41 DNF	C	38	Dome Racing Colin Bennett	Eliseo Salazar Chris Craft Nick Mason	Dome RC82	?	75
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
42 DNF	C Jr	64	Hubert Striebig	Hubert Striebig Noël del Bello Jacques Heuclin	Sthemo SM01	?	71
					BMW 2.2L I4
43 DNF	C	49	Grid Motor Racing Ltd.	Fred Stiff Dudley Wood Ray Ratcliff	Grid Plaza S1	F	69
					Ford Cosworth DFL 4.0L V8
44 DNF	C	36	Brun Motorsport	Jacques Villeneuve Ludwig Heimrath David Deacon	Sehcar C6	D	68
					Ford Cosworth DFL 4.0L V8
45 DNF	C	72	Jean Rondeau	Dany Snobeck Xavier Lapeyre Alain Cudini	Rondeau M382	M	31
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
46 DNF	C	4	Martini Lancia	Michele Alboreto Teo Fabi Alessandro Nannini	Lancia LC2	D	27
					Ferrari 268C 2.6L Turbo V8
47 DNF	C	43	Peer Racing	François Migault David Kennedy Martin Birrane	Ford C100	G	16
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
48 DNF	C	25	Ford France	Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Philippe Streiff	Rondeau M482	M	12
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
49 DNF	C	15	Belga Team Joest Racing	Jean-Michel Martin Marc Duez Philippe Martin	Porsche 936C	D	9
					Porsche Type-935 2.7L Turbo Flat-6
50 DNF	C	42	Richard Cleare Racing	Tony Dron Richard Cleare Richard Jones	Porsche-Kremer CK5	?	8
					Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6
51 DNF	B	91	Edgar Dören	Alain Yvon Jean-Marie Lemerle Michael Krankenberg	Porsche 930	?	7
					Porsche 3.0L Turbo Flat-6

Statistics

• Pole Position - #1 Rothmans Porsche - 3:16.560
• Fastest Lap - #1 Rothmans Porsche - 3:29.070
• Distance - 5047.934 km
• Average Speed - 210.330 km/h