24 Hours of Le Mans (1991)

1991 was a strange year for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not only for its unexpected victor but also due to the grid line-up. 1991 was supposed to be the first year the World Sportscar Championship ran to the new '3.5 L' rules, which meant a new breed of sports-prototype. Although TWR Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot all built cars to the new regulations for the 1991 championship series, the take up of the new class was low amongst other teams and manufacturers and there was simply not enough of these new cars to fill the grid at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans.

So the FIA allowed the first 10 spaces on the grid to be reserved for the fastest qualifying 3.5 L cars from the World Sportscar Championship while the rest of the field was made up of Group C cars from previous year's championships and Le Mans races. In another twist, some teams which had 3.5 L cars, but entered previous year's championships with Group C cars, were allowed to enter their 'obsolete' but more reliable (and for Le Mans in 1991, quicker) Group C racers. So in the case of TWR Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz, their 3.5 L cars (the XJR-14 and C291 respectively) failed to qualify and instead they raced using their XJR-12 and C11 models respectively. Peugeot Sport on the other hand only had their 905 model to race, 1991 being their first season in sportscar racing, but with the absence of TWR Jaguar's far quicker XJR-14 the French marque had the honour of starting 1st and 2nd.

The very loud Mazda's 787B, powered with a rotary Model 26B Wankel engine, won in 1991. It was the first (and to date, only) Japanese car to ever win overall at Le Mans, as well as being the only non-piston engined car to achieve victory.

Mazda had been running at Le Mans since 1974, with a series of rotary-powered cars, starting with the RX-7. The company took 12th and a C Junior class win in 1983 with the 717C, but was less successful with the 727C and 737C. The company's performance had improved, though, with the 757 and 767/B claiming four consecutive GTP class wins from 1987 through 1990.

// Extracted from Wikipedia (see full text clicking here)//

Video: