24 Hours of Le Mans Review 1986

Overview

"Le Mans"

Once again the Rothmans Porsche team fielded three works cars as the Stuttgart marque challenged for yet another victory. However, the British Jaguar team was ready to break the Porsche domination with its awesome Silk Cut-backed XJR-6s. It looked set to be a showdown between the turbo-charged works 962Cs and the Jaguar V12s, but the Joest team, victors in '84 and '85, could not be discounted and the Porsche 956B of Klaus Ludwig, Paolo Barilla and John Winter would lead the early running. Tragically, what looked set to be one of the greatest Le Mans races ever was marred by the death of popular Austrian racer Jo Gartner in a crash during the night. With all three Jaguars and two of the works Porsches forced out by accidents and reliability problems, the number one Rothmans Porsche of Derek Bell, Hans Stuck and Al Holbert was left to take a subdued victory - the fourth for Le Mans legend Bell.