Premium

Le Mans 1972 - hard-earned victory for Matra

Name: Alfa Romeo 33/3 TT 1972
Brand: Alfa Romeo

This article was auto-translated. We apologize if some words are confusing or simply amusing. Would you like to help us improve?

Created on May 18, 2012

Text:

Balz Schreier

Photos:

Marc Le Beller

RMAuctions

Archiv

Marc Le Beller

RMAuctions

Archiv

58 2

Lola T280 at Le Mans 1972 - Jo Bonnier's car in front of the winning Matra MS670

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Overall winner Henri Pescarolo in the Matra Simca MS670 with starting number 15 in the front at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1972

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Le Mans 1972 - Matra-Simca MS670 - This factory photo shows the overall winner of Le Mans 1972 - Matra-Simca MS670 n

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3 (T33/3) at Le Mans 1972 - Nino Vaccarella in the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3 of the Autodelta team

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona at Le Mans 1972 - The Ferrari Daytona by Charles Pozzi

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Le Mans 1972 - Jo Bonnier discusses the race to catch up with his co-pilot Gijs van Lennep - shortly afterwards Gijs broke the lap record. The car started under the Swiss team "Ecurie Bonnier Switzerland" and was therefore painted with this cheese-like livery

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Le Mans 1972 - Gijs van Lennep in the Lola T280

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Lola T280 at Le Mans 1972 - Jo Bonnier talks to Gijs van Lennep during a pit stop

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Le Mans 1972 - The fourth-placed Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3 (T33/3) of Nino Vaccarella and Andrea de Adamich

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Porsche 908 LH at Le Mans 1972 - Jo Siffert A.T.E. Racing achieved 3rd place at Le Mans 1972 with Reinhold Joest - the same car won the 1000km of Monza in 1969

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Le Mans 1972 - Reinhold Joest's Porsche 908 Langheck achieved 3rd place

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Reinhold Jöst in the Porsche 908 LH (1972) at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

The Swiss Wicky Racing Team drove this Porsche 907 (1972) at Le Mans with Walter Brun and Peter Mattli

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Le Mans 1972 - Alain de Cadenet's self-built Duckhams on Formula 1 technology

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Privateer Alain de Cadenet in the Duckhams LM (1972) at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

De Tomaso Pantera (1972) at Le Mans - De Tomaso Pantera in the test runs before Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

De Tomaso Pantera (1972) in Le Mans - The De Tomaso Pantera by Claude Dubois

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Derek Bell drove this Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (Daytona) (1972) at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

The three Ford Capri 2600RS at Le Mans 1972 - number 53 was driven by Jochen Mass and Hans Joachim Stuck

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ford Capri RS 2600 (1972) - The winner of the Monza 1000km race shown here also competed at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ford Capri 2600RS at Le Mans 1972 - starting number 52 was driven by the German Dieter Glemser

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ford Capri 2600RS at Le Mans 1972 - starting number 54 with Gerry Birrell

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ligier JS2 (1972) at Le Mans - A Ligier JS2 at the start with Guy Ligier

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Chevrolet Corvette (1972) at Le Mans - John Greenwood Racing Corvette Stars and Stripes on the grid

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona (1972) at Le Mans - Nine Ferrari GTB/4s (Daytona) competed at Le Mans in 1972! This Scuderia Filipinetti Ferrari was also there.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona (1972) at Le Mans - The Ferrari Daytona by Charles Pozzi

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Chevrolet Corvette (1972) at Le Mans - Participant car photographed before Le Mans - The Goodwood Stars and Stripes Corvette

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

This Greenwood Racing L-88 Corvette (Stars and Stripes) was at the start of Le Mans 1972

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

The two Swiss drivers Herbert Müller and Cox Kocher drove the De Tomaso Pantera #31 (1972) at Le Mans for the Escuderia Montjuich team

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Claude Haldi's Swiss private team drove this Porsche 911S (1972) at Le Mans. The co-pilot was Paul Keller and a person who is only known today under the pseudonym Gédéhem.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Le Mans 1972 - Citroen SM - This Citroen SM (1971) was also registered for Le Mans, but was then too slow in qualifying (picture taken at the 1971 Morocco Rally)

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Chevrolet Corvette ZL1 (1972) at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill drove this Matra-Simca MS670 (1972) at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Matra-Simca MS660C (1972) at Le Mans with driver David Hobbs

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3 (T33/3) (1972) at Le Mans with Nino Vaccarella

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3 (T33/3) (1972) at Le Mans with Rolf Stommelen and Nanni Galli

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Charles Pozzi's Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (Daytona) (1972) in the pit lane at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

The German private team with Hans-Dieter Weigel drove this Porsche 908/2 (1972) at Le Mans

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Helmut Marko and Vic Elford drove this Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3 (T33/3) (1972) at Le Mans for Team Autodelta

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Team Schnitzer competed in Le Mans for the newly founded company BMW Motorsport GmbH (BMW M) with a BMW 2800CS (1972). The drivers were the Swiss René Herzog and the German Hans Heyer.

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Overall winner Matra Simca MS670 with Henri Pescarolo - pictured here during a test drive before the race

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Ferrari Daytona from Team Charles Pozzi before the 1972 Le Mans race

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Jo Siffert in the Porsche 908 at Le Mans 1968 - the same car was entered again in 1972 by Reinhold Jöst and finished third together with Weber/Casoni

You have only

11 out of 58

images seen in high resolution

Summary

After the big five-litre sports cars Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512M were no longer allowed to compete due to changes in the regulations, the field of the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans was realigned. Matra, Alfa Romeo and Lola were seen as the favorites, but in the end the Matra MS 660 took the long-awaited victory. This race report looks back at the year 1972, describing vehicles and participants, successes and tragedies, supplemented by historical images and film material.

This article contains the following chapters

New regulations for 1972
Matra or Alfa Romeo?
Many GT cars and touring cars
Quick refueling systems and modified route for the first time
Matra and the long-awaited victory
Joakim Bonnier last race
1-2-3-4-5 for Ferrari in the GT 5-liter class
Porsche not competitive
Technical problems at Alfa Romeo
A privateer goes for gold
"Stars and Stripes" challenge Porsche 908
Series winner Ford
BMW's post-war debut
Porsche 911 not yet ready
Final classification (distance)
Further information

Estimated reading time: 12min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Ferrari's withdrawal took everyone by surprise. The 312 PB had been considered the favorite to win most of the races in which it competed. However, Ferrari communicated that the 312 PB was not a 24-hour car, but was designed for shorter distances (1,000 km). They even backed this up with test results, according to which the engine of the 312 PB exhibited technical problems after 15 hours. New regulations for 1972 The fastest vehicles of the previous years - the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512M - were no longer permitted in 1972 due to changes in the regulations. The displacement for the prototypes had been reduced to three liters. Touring cars were now also permitted.

Welcome to Zwischengas!