1995 24 Hours of Le Mans

The race was won by the #59 McLaren F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya entered in the GT1 category.

However the reliability of the production-based McLaren helped it defeat the much faster Le Mans prototypes, although in an interview 20 years [3] later Graham Humphrys (former Spice technical director[4]), who engineered the race winning car, attributed the win to the rain which fell on the circuit overnight, which eased the stress on the car's relatively fragile transmission, and which also saw a remarkable performance by Lehto, who was as much as 30 seconds a lap faster than his rivals at times.

Sportscar specialists Courage, Kremer, WR and Debora returned in WSC/P2, along with the first Ferrari prototype (the 333SP) seen at Le Mans for 23 years, which had been running in the American IMSA championship.

Qualifying proved to be one of the greatest days for the small French Welter Racing team, rivaling its 400 km/h speed record on the Mulsanne straight in 1988.

Ever the builder of small, nimble and very fast prototypes, Gérard Welter's latest version, the WR LM95, was no exception: both cars, driven by William David and Patrick Gonin locked out the front row of the grid for the great race.

The EuroMotorsport Ferrari prototype was kept out of most of the qualifying while the ACO argued with the team about checking the maximum engine revs - in the end it was 17th on the grid.

[8] Fastest in the GT2 class was the best of the Agusta Callaways, in 23rd, well up the grid from the Swiss Porsche of Enzo Calderari in 32nd, and the private Japanese Honda NSX.

Five cars, including Boutsen's Kremer, the Giroix Jacadi McLaren (running on a synthetic-alcohol fuel distilled from beets[9]) and Kunimitsu Honda in GT2, had to start from the pit-lane because of last minute issues.

At flag-fall the two WR's, and Wollek's Courage, took off and quickly put distance to the rest of the field - nearly half a lap at the end of the first hour.

Massimo Sigala in the Ferrari prototype had made rapid progress from its lowly starting position, even passing Nielsen into 4th until stone damage stopped the engine at Arnage on only lap 7.

The Ferrari was out, Pescarolo's Courage had stopped at Arnage with a flat battery, and the Kremer was proving diabolical to drive in the wet (even regenmeister Hans-Joachim Stuck put it in the wall at the first chicane).

The rival Gulf Racing McLarens, dominant in the BPR series had been having many problems: series-leader and team-owner Ray Bellm had had an earlier off, losing 7 laps.

Bad luck also dogged the Larbre Compétition GT1 Porsches: In the early evening the car, of the team-owner Jack Leconte, had gone off into the Arnage gravel trap.

Meanwhile, the PC Automotive Jaguar was shadowing the McLarens; from starting 22nd on the grid it had moved up to 4th, chased by the Downing Kudzu-Mazda, Stuck's Kremer and Wollek's Courage making a spirited recovery.

But then the 53-year-old, 5-time winner, Derek Bell showed why he is considered one of the world's best sports-car racers - with the pressure on, he matched and then beat Lehto's very rapid lap times.

However Stéphane Ratel's Pilot Racing Ferrari had been holding 8th position overall for six hours when, just before midday, Michel Ferté connected with Blundell's Gulf McLaren and skidded on debris at the Dunlop chicane, beaching it in the gravel trap.

In GT2, after losing 6 laps at the start, the Kunimitsu Honda had run like clockwork and now its better fuel economy was paying dividends as it overtook the Callaways and settled into the top 10 overall.