THE GERMAN Joest team repeated history in the Le Mans 24-hours this weekend when it scored its second back-to-back victory in the French sports car classic, on its way giving Porsche a 15th victory in the famous race.
Driving the same Porsche WSC95 that won last year's race for the successful Joest squad, ex-Ferrari Formula One driver Michele Alborto and Stefan Johansson and Danish Formula 3000 star Tom Kristensen finished just one lap clear of the second-place car.
As in 1984 and 1985 and again last year, the team had to overcome the official Porsche team to claim victory. But unlike 1996, when it led for most of the race, this time Joest was unable to match the pace of the two factory 911 GTIs.
Although the No 1 911 GTI, driven by veteran Hans Stuck, Bob Wollek and Thierry Boutsen crashed out of the lead yesterday morning, the second entry looked set for victory as the race drew to a close. But with little more than two hours to go the factory's hopes quite literally went up in smoke when Germany's Ralf Kelleners, who was sharing with Frenchman Yannick Dalmas and Emmanuel Collard, pulled off the circuit, his car engulfed in flames.
McLaren, which won this race two years ago, finished second with the British GTC Motorsport team. The GTC line-up of Jean-Marc Gounon and Pierre-Henri Raphaneli from France, and Sweden's Anders Olofsson had a trouble-free run which enabled them to pip the factory McLaren BMW.
