The 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 57th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, France, on the 10 and 11 June 1989. This year it was not included as a round of the 1989 World Sports-Prototype Championship. The entry list promised a strong contest between five manufacturers. Jaguar had won in 1988 and went on to win the championship; while Sauber had finished second and was now matching Jaguar on the track. New regulations were coming in 1991, and the first examples of the 3.5-litre normally-aspirated formula were entered by Spice Engineering.
Although the Saubers started on the front row, it was the Jaguar of Davy Jones that led for the first three hours until the car suddenly came to a stop on the back straight, dropping them well down the field. With the Saubers running to a designated race-pace, it was the Joest Porsche of Wollek and Stuck that took the lead, keeping it for six hours, and into the night. The Jaguar team kept having niggly problems that left them constantly playing catch-up. As night fell, against predictions it was the Joest Porsches running a 1-2. However, at 1.20am, Stuck brought his car in with overheating problems, losing the 3-lap lead they had built up. This moved the Lammers Jaguar to the front for the rest of the night, chased by two of the Saubers. The race was lost for Jaguar as dawn arrived, as their three remaining cars were waylaid. Two of them needed full gearbox changes. This left the Saubers racing each other for the lead on the same lap. However, when Baldi ran out of brakes and ended up in the Dunlop gravel-trap, Dickens went through to take a lead he would not relinquish. Baldi's Sauber lost its chance to fight back when the gearbox broke leaving co-driver Acheson to run home stuck in fifth gear. Third was the Wollek/Stuck Porsche, fighting clutch problems, seven laps behind the winners, with the best of the Jaguars – that of Lammers/Tambay/Gilbert-Scott – in fourth.
In the C2 class, it had been a race of attrition with every car suffering some kind of delay and only five of the fourteen starters finishing. In the end, the class win went to the Cougar of Philippe Farjon and Courage Compétition. Mazda again had the GTP class to themselves and, again, they were pleased to have all three cars finish – the best coming home seventh overall, 21 laps behind the winner. The event was also notable for the unusual number of cars having engine fires - with six of them afflicted either in practice or during the race. Despite the alarming spectacles that produced, the drivers were all able to stop and get out without suffering injury.
Regulations At the end of 1988, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) announced an overhaul of the Group C regulations. From 1991, the fuel restrictions would be removed, and the cars would have a weight-limit of 750 kg and be powered by 3.5-litre non-turbo engines. The formula was proposed by Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA officer in charge of promotion. These engines were coming into Formula 1 this year, and it was an undisguised attempt to bring the major Sports Car manufacturers (Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda) into that series at a reduced cost of two series for one engine. Races would be 350 km (with co-drivers optional), aside from the only endurance race in the schedule- at Le Mans.Spurring 2012, p.336Williams 2023, p.320Wimpffen 2008, p.294
At a stroke, Group C would be consigned to history, with 1989 and 1990 now designated as transitional seasons to allow the new models to be phased in. Group C2 would be ended at the close of this year.Wimpffen 2008, p.297 Group C cars would still run to the fuel restrictions, with an additional 50 kg of minimum weight added and manual control of the turbo-boost now banned. In contrast, the new 3.5-litre engines were not under these restrictions. This year's championship would be 9 rounds, with teams required to enter every round or face a US$250,000 fine per race missed. The only exception was for Japanese teams who could miss one European round. The ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest) was allowed to take entries from non-Championship cars if the number of official entries was less than 50. Ecclestone also stated that the FIA had control over TV rights and had also signed contracts for race-timing with Longines and Olivetti.
All of these were at odds with the contracts the ACO already had in place. When it was still unresolved by May, the ACO had no option but to withdraw the race from the World Championship. This did not go down well with many teams – particularly from Japan – who had committed to the costly full season to be able to compete at Le Mans, which they could now do anyway.Wimpffen 2008, p.295 This year, the ACO modified the formula for the Indice Energétique, to become the Challenge Econergie.Spurring 2012, p.8
Entries Despite the FIA regulations, the entry-list was one of the strongest of the Group C era, with five different manufacturers now with genuine race-winning aspirations. There were 25 factory cars – with the notable exception of Porsche. However, it was supporting a flotilla of 17 customer entries, easily the strongest marque present. Joining them this year was Aston Martin, late to the party, and Spice, who were the first to introduce a design to the new 3.5-litre specifications. The C2 class of 18 was dominated by Spice, with 8 entries reflecting its current dominance in racing series around the world. Once again, Mazda entered its cars in the IMSA-GTP class, and again the three of them had the class to themselves. For the first time since 1982 (the inaugural year of the Group C era), a full grid of 55 cars took the start.Spurring 2012, p.378
Class Quantity Turbo+Rotaryengines Group C1 41 / 38 33 / 30 IMSA-GTP 3 / 3 3 / 3 Group C2 18 / 14 2 / 2 Total Entries 62 / 55 38 / 35 Note: The first number is the number accepted, the second the number who started.
Group C1 In 1988, Jaguar had achieved their goal to win Le Mans again, and then won the World Championship for the second consecutive year. They were also running a full programme in the IMSA series. This year, under new TWR Technical Director Ross Brawn, they were moving quickly to prepare the new twin-turbo V6 car (called the XJR-10 for IMSA and XJR-11 for Group C). Meanwhile, four of last year's XJR-9 were prepared for Le Mans instead. With further refinement from TWR's engine-specialist, Allan Scott, they were able to reach 390 kp/ h (240 mph).Spurring 2012, pp.342-3 They were also now fitted with 18" tyres.Clarke 1997, p.111 Motor Sport Jun 1989 Race winner Jan Lammers was now paired with former Ferrari F1 driver Patrick Tambay. They were joined for this race by British F3000 driver Andrew Gilbert-Scott. The other championship duo was John Nielsen and Andy Wallace, with Price Cobb (Nielsen's co-driver in the IMSA series). Together, these three had finished second in the Daytona 24-hours. The third car had Americans Davy Jones and Jeff Kline, with Derek Daly; while the fourth had the Ferté brothers, Alain and Michel, racing with Chilean Eliseo Salazar.
After withdrawing from the event last year, the Sauber Mercedes-Benz had gone on to better things. Finishing second in the Championship to Jaguar, they had then started this year with a win at Suzuka. The C9 had received a number of aero refinements. Hermann Hiereth and his team at Mercedes-Benz developed the new 5.0-litre twin-turbo V8 M119 engine: now a double overhead cam design with four valves per cylinder, it had improved power and fuel efficiency and could put out 720 bhp. After the tyre failures the previous year, Michelin had done extensive high-speed testing to supply reliable rubber to the team,Spurring 2012, p.338 although their cornering performance still left a bit to be desired.Clarke 1997, p.126 Road & Track Oct 1989 The team's main concern was whether the Hewland transmission would withstand the extreme torque put through it for 24 hours. Mercedes sports director Jochen Neerpasch brought 86 works personnel to support Sauber team manager Dave Price with the three cars,Spurring 2012, pp.339-40 now decked out with the 3-pointed star and silver livery of Mercedes to emphasise the closer bond.Williams 2023, p.321Laban 2001, p.211 This year, lead driver Jean-Louis Schlesser came to the race, with fellow Frenchmen Alain Cudini and former Matra and Renault driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Schlesser's co-driver at Suzuka, Mauro Baldi raced with Kenny Acheson and Gianfranco Brancatelli, while the other works driver, Jochen Mass had Manuel Reuter and Swede Stanley Dickens with him.
Although not contesting the Championship, the Porsche factory sent crews to support their favoured customer teams: Joest, Brun and Schuppan – all with the 1988 3.0-litre water-cooled engine.Spurring 2012, p.341 Lead designer Norbert Singer prepared the cars for the Joest Racing team. They had three cars entered, of which the lead one, driven by Bob Wollek and Hans-Joachim Stuck, had just come out of the Weissach factory. The other two cars were ex-works chassis – to be driven by Frank Jelinski/Pierre-Henri Raphanel/"John Winter" (Louis Krages) and the very experienced Henri Pescarolo/Claude Ballot-Léna (with 22 Le Mans starts each), with Jean-Louis Ricci. At Dijon, against the Jaguar and Sauber works teams, Wollek and Jelinski had got a surprise victory in the new car – the first victory for a Porsche since 1987. Walter Brun was continuing with his expensive, unsuccessful foray into Formula 1 with his EuroBrun team, yet still managed to assemble five cars for an all-out effort at Le Mans. His two lead cars were new chassis built on honeycomb/carbon-fibre tubs, and dubbed "962C-BM". The other three cars were a mix of old and new 962s – Brun and his F1 driver Oscar Larrauri had the newest car.Spurring 2012, p.355 In the absence of the works team, Vern Schuppan raced with his own team. With Eje Elgh and fellow-Australian Gary Brabham, they ran the ex-works Porsche used by the Andretti family last year. The team's second car was a brand-new chassis entrusted to Will Hoy, Dominic Dobson and young Jean Alesi (currently leading the Formula 3000 series, and about to start his Formula 1 career).Spurring 2012, p.353 The Kremer brothers returned with their two honeycomb/carbon CK6 variants. Clocked at 380 kp/h (235 mph), they were the fastest Porsches in the field.Spurring 2012, pp.356-7 Richard Lloyd's team had missed the previous Le Mans but were back with two honeycomb GTi models of their own design. Lloyd had got Derek Bell as his lead driver, with Tiff Needell and James Weaver. The other car had 20-race veteran David Hobbs racing with Formula 3000 debutants Damon Hill and Steven Andskär The other three Porsches were small teams who had taken the big commitment to run a full season: the German Obermaier Racing, with its Primagaz sponsorship; Briton Tim Lee-Davey had a car bought from Porsche GB; and the French Alméras brothers back at Le Mans for the first time since the 1970s.
Nissan was becoming the car to beat in the IMSA competition with the Geoff Brabham winning the 1988 GTP Drivers' Championship for the Electramotive Engineering team. To manage its World Championship programme better, Nissan Motorsports Europe was set up at a new facility in England. March was dropped as chassis-supplier in favour of Lola Cars, who were supplying chassis to Electramotive in IMSA. Eric Broadley and Andy Scriven designed the R89C around the new Nissan 3.5-litre VRH35 engine. The twin-turbo double-overhead cam unit could reach over 800 bhp. The chassis was derived from the Lola T810 currently dominating the IMSA series with Electramotive, itself derived from the old T600 of the early '80s.Spurring 2012, p.348Clarke 1997, p.112 Motor Sport Jun 1989