1983 24 Hours of Le Mans

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 race had a close finish 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 seized up on the last lap but re-fired and made it to the end with smoke trailing from the exhaust. Holbert crossed the finish line 17 seconds ahead of 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.

For most of the races up to the early 1980s when I do not have pictures of a model of the car as raced I have shown examples of the car where possible. For the remaining years I will only show the cars where photos of the correct car are available.

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