The 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans () was a non-championship 24-hour automobile endurance race held from 18 to 19 June 2005, at the Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France, for teams of three drivers each entering Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars. It was the 73rd running of the event, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. A test day was held two weeks prior to the race on 5 June. Approximately 230,000 people attended the race.

Jean-Christophe Boullion, Emmanuel Collard and Érik Comas began from pole position in a Pescarolo Sport C60 car after Boullion set the overall fastest lap time in the fourth qualifying session. The car led for the first two hours before a gearbox problem forced it into the garage for repairs, allowing Emanuele Pirro's Champion Racing Audi R8 to take the lead until Pirro crashed after a safety car intervention. JJ Lehto, Tom Kristensen and Marco Werner drove the sister Champion car to victory. It was Werner's first Le Mans victory, Lehto's second, and Kristensen's seventh. Kristensen surpassed Jacky Ickx to become the all-time leader in overall Le Mans victories and Audi claimed its fifth victory since the 2000 race. Pescarolo finished second, two laps behind, and the sister Champion Audi car of Frank Biela, Allan McNish and Pirro finished third.

The Ray Mallock Racing MG-Lola EX264 car of Thomas Erdos, Mike Newton and Warren Hughes won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category after taking the class lead in the race's final hour. Karim Ojjeh, Claude-Yves Gosselin and Adam Sharpe in a Paul Belmondo Racing Courage C65 finished second, five laps behind the MG-Lola, while Didier André, Paul Belmondo and Rick Sutherland's sister No. 37 car was third. Corvette Racing won their fourth class victory since their debut in the 2001 race. Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen's No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R held a two-lap advantage over the No. 63 of Ron Fellows, Max Papis and Johnny O'Connell in the Le Mans Grand Touring 1 (LMGT1) category. Porsches led the Le Mans Grand Touring 2 (LMGT2) class with the No. 71 Alex Job Racing 911 GT3-RSR of Leo Hindery, Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller ahead of the No. 90 White Lighting Racing car of Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Timo Bernhard.

Background

In September 2004, the dates for the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans were announced. It was the 73rd edition of the race and took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe road racing circuit close by Le Mans, France, from 18 to 19 June. The race was first held in 1923 after the automotive journalist Charles Faroux, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) general secretary Georges Durand and the industrialist Emile Coquile agreed to hold a test of vehicle reliability and durability. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is considered one of the world's most prestigious motor races and is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport.

Regulation and track changes The Le Mans regulations for the two Grand Touring (GT) categories underwent significant changes for the event. Le Mans Grand Touring Sport became Le Mans Grand Touring 1 (LMGT1), while Le Mans Grand Touring became Le Mans Grand Touring 2 (LMGT2). Both the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the world governing body of motor racing, and the ACO required new vehicles in both classes to be homologated. In 2005, cars built to comply with the Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900) regulations could compete alongside newer "hybrid" cars built to comply with the updated aerodynamic regulations in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) category for the last time. LMP900 cars had to run with a smaller air restrictor to reduce engine performance and they had to weigh more than "hybrid" cars.

The ACO recommended that LMGT1 cars lap the Circuit de la Sarthe in no less than 3 minutes, 55 seconds, and LMGT2 cars in no less than 4 minutes, 8 seconds. Had these rules not been met, the automotive group would immediately intervene to lower the performance of individual cars by altering their aerodynamic efficiency, reducing the size of the air restrictor and the fuel tank for future editions of the Le Mans race. GT2-specification vehicles could compete if at least 100 road-going cars were built by "the big manufacturers" and 25 by "the small manufacturers." The ACO would otherwise suspend homologation for the 2006 race.

The circuit was resurfaced from Mulsanne to Arnage corners from late 2004 to early 2005, and a section of road at the circuit's 89th post was levelled.

Entries

By the deadline for entries on 19 January 2005, the ACO had received 78 applications (37 for the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) classes and 41 for the GT categories). It granted 50 invitations to the race, with entries divided between the LMP1, LMP2, LMGT1, and LMGT2 categories.

Automatic entries

Teams that won their category in the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans earned automatic entries. Teams that won Le Mans-related series and events such as the 2004 Petit Le Mans, the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series and the 2004 American Le Mans Series were also invited. Some second-place finishers were also granted automatic entries in certain series, though none were given to the winners and runners-up of the 2004 FIA GT Championship's GT and N-GT categories, as was the case the previous year. Because entries were pre-selected to teams, they were limited to a maximum of two cars and were not permitted to change their vehicles from year to year. Entries were allowed to switch categories as long as they did not change the make of their car and the ACO granted official permission for the switch.

The ACO published its final list of automatic invitations on 18 January 2005. Audi Sport Japan Team Goh, the 2004 winners, and the runners-up Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx were among the teams to decline their automatic entries. Dyson Racing, Prodrive Racing, Barron Connor Racing, ChoroQ Racing Team, JMB Racing and Alex Job Racing also declined their automatic entries. No replacements were found.

+Automatic entries for the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans Reason Entered LMP1 LMP2 LMGT1 LMGT2 1st in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Audi Sport Japan Team Goh Intersport Racing Corvette Racing White Lighting Racing 2nd in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Rachel Welter Prodrive Racing ChoroQ Racing Team 1st in the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Courage Compétition Larbre Compétition Sebah Automotive 2nd in the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series Team Goh PiR Compétition Barron Connor Racing JMB Racing 1st in the 2004 Petit Le Mans Champion Racing Intersport Racing Corvette Racing Alex Job Racing 1st in the 2004 American Le Mans Series Dyson Racing Miracle Motorsports Corvette Racing Flying Lizard Motorsports

1. – Team declined their automatic invitations.

Entry list and reserves

The ACO announced the complete 50-car entry list for Le Mans, plus eight reserves, on 24 March 2005. Several teams withdrew their entries after they were published. Team Nasamax withdrew its two-year-old bio-ethanol-powered DM139-Judd car, citing financial difficulties causing the team to reduce its schedule for the 2005 racing season. This promoted the 91 T2M Motorsport Porsche 911-GT3 RSR LMGT2-class car to the race entry. Four days later, ACEMCO Motorsports withdrew its No. 63 Saleen S7-R due to aerodynamic deficiencies caused by a modification of the height of the car's rear wing at the 2004 Petit Le Mans to comply with ACO regulations. This promoted the reserve No. 76 IMSA Performance LMGT2-class Porsche to the race.

A revised entry list released by the ACO on 27 April confirmed the withdrawal of the Team Nasamax and ACEMCO Motorsports entries as well as the dropping of the Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R, Thierry Perrier's Porsche 911-GT3 RSR, a second Racing for Holland Dome S101-Judd car, a Ferrari 360 Modena GTC fielded by G.P.C. Sport and a second Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello purchased by Larbre Compétition from the reserve list. Four days before the start of scrutineering, Lucchini Engineering were unable to rectify a gearbox ratio problem in its LMP2/04 and were forced to withdraw the car, reducing the number of entries to 49.

Testing

On June 5, a mandatory two-session pre-Le Mans test day lasting eight hours was held at the circuit, with 50 entries, to work on car setup and driver orientation. Rainfall before the end of the afternoon session made it impossible for teams to lap faster. Emmanuel Collard in the No. 16 C60 Hybrid Judd car set the day's pace for Pescarolo Sport with a 3:32.468 lap. The No. 17 Pescarolo of Soheil Ayari was second, and Jonathan Cochet's No. 13 Courage Compétition car came in third. JJ Lehto's No. 3 Champion Racing Audi R8 was fourth with Seiji Ara's No. 5 Jim Gainer International Dome S101 fifth. João Barbosa's lap put the No. 18 Rollcentre Racing Dallara SP1 car in sixth place, while Franck Montagny's Team Oreca Audi was seventh. Sam Hancock led the LMP2 class in the No. 32 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 vehicle with a time of 3:44.426 ahead of Ray Mallock's No. 32 MG-Lola EX264 of Thomas Erdos, the No. 30 Kruse Motorsport Courage C65 of Phil Bennett and Didier André's No. 37 Paul Belmondo Racing cars. Aston Martin, in its first Le Mans works entry since the 1989 event, led the LMGT1 category with a 3:50.033 lap from Tomáš Enge's No. 58 DBR9, with David Brabham's No. 59 car second. Christophe Bouchut's No. 61 Cirtek Motorsport Ferrari and Oliver Gavin and Johnny O'Connell's Nos. 64 and 63 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R finished third and fifth in class, respectively. Timo Bernhard's No. 90 White Lighting Racing car helped Porsche lead the LMGT2 category, followed by Robin Liddell's No. 77 Panoz Esperante GT-LM and Romain Dumas' No. 76 IMSA Performance car.

Qualifying

All entrants had eight hours of qualifying, divided into four two-hour sessions on 15 and 16 June. To qualify for the race, all entrants were required to set a time within 115% of the fastest lap set by the fastest vehicle in each of the four categories during the sessions. Rain fell during the first session's start, making the track slippery and decreasing visibility. Some drivers met the required minimum distance to drive in the race. Collard took the lead late in the session with a lap of 4:13.526. Tom Kristensen's lap put Champion's lead Audi in second and Ryō Michigami's Jim Gainer Dome car was third. Andy Wallace was fourth in Creation Autosportif's No. 7 DBA 03S-Judd car, and Michael Krumm was fifth in his Rollcentre Dallara. Ayari's Pescarolo was provisionally sixth and Allan McNish's No. 2 Champion car was seventh. Bouchut drove the Cirtek Ferrari to provisional pole in LMGT1 with a 4:23.885 lap, more than 12 seconds ahead of the two Aston Martin cars. Andre's Paul Belmondo Courage took the LMP2 lead with a lap of 4:24.832, and Hancock's Intersport Lola was second. Earlier, Peter Owen's No. 39 Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport Lola caused the session to be stopped due to a loss of control at the rear while changing gears. Owen was unhurt after crashing at the exit of the second Mulsanne chicane. Mike Rockenfeller's Alex Job Porsche was fastest in LMGT2 with a 4:37.574 lap, followed by Jörg Bergmeister's No. 90 White Lighting and Dumas' No. 76 IMSA Performance entries.