1996 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 64th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1996. It was won by a Tom Walkinshaw-Porsche prototype run by Joest Racing with drivers Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter and Le Mans rookie Alexander Wurz completing 354 laps. While not being the fastest car on track, it hit the front in the first hour and aside from several pit-stop overlaps, was never headed as other teams hit mechanical troubles during the race. This was Reuter's second Le Mans victory, and the first for Jones (after finishing as runner-up in 1991 with Jaguar) and Wurz, who, at 22 years old, became the youngest ever Le Mans overall winner. Regulations and Entries Still very satisfied with its equivalency formulae between the prototypes and GTs, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) made only slight adjustments to its regulations, by including engine volume and turbo boost into its calculations. LMP1 and P2 got closer to the IMSA-WSC category with new, updated, bodywork dimensions. The summary, as compared to the 1995 regulations was: LM WSC (P1) max 5.1L or 3.0L (turbo), fuel tank 80L, max tyre width 16", min weight 875 kg LM P2: max 3.4L or 2.0L (turbo), fuel tank 62L, max tyre width 14", min weight 650 kg LM GT1: max 8.0L or 4.0L (turbo), fuel tank 100L, max tyre width 14" (front) & 12" (rear), min weight based on a sliding scale LM GT2 had the same specifications as the LM GT1 In GT1, major engine modifications were now allowed while GT2 still had to use series-production engines.