There has probably never been such a high concentration of former Le Mans winners and participants as is expected for the Le Mans Classic on July 8-10, 2016.
Many multiple winners
The man with the most victories returning to Le Mans in July 2016, who will be driving a 1969 Alfa Romeo T33/3, a 1972 Lola T290 and a 1979 Lancia Beta Group V, among others, is Emanuele Pirro, who has been overall winner of the 24 Hours five times.
Marco Werner, who has won three times and will compete in 2016 in a 1955 Lotus 9, a 1961 Maserati Birdcage T63 and a 1954 Maserati A6 GCS Barchetta, comes close.
Men who shaped the history of Le Mans
Henri Pescarolo, 33 times at the start of the 24 Hours, will drive an Inaltera together with Julien Beltoise, the son of Jean-Pierre Beltoise, the same car that Pescarolo and Beltoise brought to the start in 1976.
Gérard Larrousse will be seen at the wheel of a Porsche 550 Spyder from 1958, Eric Hélary in the cockpit of a Chevrolet Corvette C3 from 1970, a Lancia Beta Group V from 1979 and an Alfa Romeo 33 TT from 1971.
Jochen Mass is also one of the Le Mans winners (1989), as is Gijs van Lennep (1971, 1976). They will drive a 1971 DeTomaso Pantera Group IV, a Porsche 911 RSR 3 Liter from 1974 and a Porsche 908 LH from 1968 around the Sarthe circuit.
And then there are Casper Elgaard, Ralf Kelleners, John Fitzpatrick, Uwe Alzen and Raymond Narc.
However, the list of starters includes many more participants from the past, such as David Halliday (BMW 3.0 CSL), Jean Ragnotti (Alpine M 65, Renault Alpine A443), Paul Belmondo (Ford GT 40), Chris Mac Allister, Eric De Doncker, Gareth Evans, Roald Goethe, Lucien Guitteny, Stuart Hall, Sam Hancock, David Hart, Hans Hugenholtz, Wolfgang Kaufmann, Patrice Lafargue, Franck Lagorce, Michel Lecourt, Erik Maris, Jean-Marc Merlin, Jacques Nicolet, Martin O'Connell, François Perrodo, Christian Pescatori, Frédéric Da Rocha, Lucien Rossiaud, Alain Serpaggi, John Sheldon, Pierre de Thoisy, and so on.
So there will be no shortage of racing celebrities at Le Mans on the classic weekend of July 8-10, 2016, just as there will be no shortage of attractive and legendary racing cars.
In an earlier announcement, we already referred to the large Group C field that is expected at Le Mans.
More information about the event can be found on the Le Mans Classic website.
