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Carsales Staff24 Jun 2015
NEWS

Le Mans numbers revealed

Porsche reveals the extraordinary statistics behind its historic win in this year's 'sports car grand prix'

Porsche has provided a fascinating insight into what it took to win its 17th Le Mans 24 Hour race on June 14 – its first in 17 years and its first since returning to Le Mans last year.

As we've reported extensively, the trio of New Zealander Earl Bamber, German F1 racer Nico Hülkenberg and British driver Nick Tandy claimed victory in the Porsche 919 Hybrid.

They were followed across the line by the sister car of Aussie star Mark Webber, German Timo Bernhard and Kiwi Brendon Hartley, making it the fourth one-two result for Porsche after 1971, 1987 and 1998.

Behind them were two Audis, with the third factory Porsche LMP1 car in fifth, followed by Toyota, Audi and Toyota LMP1 cars.

But that's just the start of an outstanding list of facts from the 83rd running of the world's biggest endurance race, in which Porsche stopped its sister brand Audi from claiming a record sixth consecutive victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Here's a few more:

>> The winning team completed 395 laps (5382.82km). This year’s race was only two laps short of the longest distance covered in Le Mans back in 2010.

>> The average speed of the winning Porsche 919 Hybrid was 224.2 km/h.

>> The highest top speed of a Porsche 919 Hybrid in the race was 340.2 km/h by Mark Webber on Saturday at 4:40pm.

>> The Porsche 919 Hybrid recuperated and used 2.22kWh (8 megajoules) per lap. If it was a powerplant, a family home could be supplied with electricity for three months.

>> The head count for the Porsche Team’s operational crew was 120 people.

>> The Porsche team made 90 pit stops, 30 per car.

>> At 26 of these stops tyres and drivers were also changed.

>> The longest distance covered with one set of tyres was 54 laps for all three cars. In car number 17 Webber did this ultra-long run, in car number 18 it was Jani and in the number 19 prototype it was Hülkenberg.

>> 116 tyres in total were used by all three Porsche 919 Hybrids over the race distance.

>> A tyre on a rim weighs 19.9kg. This means, just in relation to wheels, the mechanics moved 2308.4kg.

>> The fastest pit stop, including a tyre and driver change, by the Porsche team was 1:13.9 minutes.

>> The fastest stop for refuelling was done in 51.3 seconds.

>> In total all three Porsche 919 Hybrids spent 95 minutes and 36 seconds in the pits. The time for the second best crew entering three cars was over 130 minutes.

>> 1896 litres of fuel were pumped into the winning car.

>> The winning Porsche’s gearbox mastered 25,293 gear changes during the 24 hours.

>> The longest time behind the wheel of all nine Porsche LMP1 drivers was for Jani with 10 hours and 10 minutes. In the winning car it was Hülkenberg who drove most (eight hours, 52 minutes).

>> Webber lost the most weight of all nine drivers. When the race began he weighed 81.2kg (including race gear and helmet), after his final stint the scales stopped at 78.2kg.

>> The drivers had 0.85 litres of drink on board for each stint. The drink bottle was changed at every refuelling stop.

>> Almost no parts had to be changed during the race. After going off the track, the number 18 car had a new nose twice. On car number 19 at eight in the morning the team did a precautionary engine cover and rear wing change when it didn’t cost any time during a safety car period.

>> During the 24 hours each Porsche 919 Hybrid had a refill of one litre of oil.

>> For the best possible visibility each of the three prototypes had four tear-offs on the windscreens, which were removed one after the other.

>> The highest ambient temperature during the race was 25 degrees at 4:00pm on Saturday. The coolest part of the race was at night between 3:00 and 7:00am with 16 degrees.

>> The highest cockpit temperature was 27 degrees.

>> The night was eight hours long with sunset at 9:59pm and sunrise at 5:59am.

>> 13.5GB of data per car were transmitted to the pits during the 24 hours.

>> The safety cars came out four times. Including the so-called slow zones – speed limits at certain parts of the track – the race was neutralised for a total of 195 minutes.

>> After three rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship, with double points in Le Mans, Porsche now leads the championship with 140 points, followed by Audi (124) and Toyota (71).

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Written byCarsales Staff
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