Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the first 24 Hours of Le Mans?
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 24 Heures du Mans) is the world's oldest active sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, France.[1] It is considered one of the most prestigious automobile races in the world and has been called the "Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency".[2] The event represents one leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport; other events being the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix.
Automatic entries to the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans were granted to teams that performed well in the previous year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 2010 seasons of the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, Petit Le Mans, Asian Le Mans Series and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. An automatic invitation is also awarded to the team which accumulates the most points in the Michelin Green X Challenge as part of the Le Mans Series, based on fuel economy of competitors during each event.
Hall had entered the 4¼-litre Bentley into the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1936, but the race was cancelled due to economic conditions and labour difficulties. There was a swansong performance for that car, however, when Hall drove it in the second post-war Le Mans 24-hour race in 1950, becoming the first (and only) man to drive solo for the entire distance, despite having a co-driver in the pits ready to take over. He completed 236 laps, which equals to nearly 3,200 km (2,000 miles). When asked by Denis Jenkinson what the toilet arrangements were if he never left the cockpit for 24 hours, Hall replied "Green overalls, old boy!"
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, wanting to create a new worldwide series, made an agreement with Don Panoz, owner of the Road Atlanta racing course. The ACO would agree to lend the Le Mans name out to Panoz for the creation of an event called the Petit Le Mans (French for "little Le Mans"). The race would be similar to the 12 Hours of Sebring, in that it did not run a full 24 hours like Le Mans. Instead, the race would be 10 hours or , whichever came first. The series would become an experiment for the ACO, in which if enough teams showed interest in Petit Le Mans, the ACO would look into developing a series around the same formula. In order to help drive interest, the ACO promised that the winners of Petit Le Mans would earn automatic invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans without having to apply or earn favor with the ACO. This custom continues to be utilized in the Petit Le Mans, despite American Le Mans Series champions also receiving invites.
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.
Greenwood raced three times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans, and 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Radio Le Mans is the English language radio service for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, as well as for numerous other sports car events.
It first broadcast at the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Corvette C7.R scored its first Le Mans win at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Jordan Taylor driving the #64 Corvette to victory in the GTE-Pro class. It is also Corvette Racing's 8th win at the circuit.
Corvette Racing won endurance racing's infamous "triple crown" with wins at the 24 hours of Daytona, 12 hours of Sebring, and the 24 hours of Le Mans.
Automatic entries to the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans were granted to teams that performed well in the previous year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 2009 seasons of the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series, FIA GT Championship, and the Petit Le Mans. An automatic invitation was also awarded to the team which accumulated the most points in the Michelin Green X Challenge as part of the Le Mans Series. The award was based on fuel economy of competitors during each event. On 19 November 2009 the ACO published their automatic invitations to 29 teams.
In 2018, Toyota took their first Le Mans win with Fernando Alonso, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima driving. The 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 87e 24 Heures du Mans) will be held on June 15–16 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France.
In 2003, Brabham won first-in-class (4th overall) with Multimatic Motorsports at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Daytona Prototype category's inaugural race. Brabham finished second at the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans driving for Bentley. In 2005 he started the first of four consecutive Le Mans starts racing Aston Martin DBR9's. He finished ninth overall and third in the GT1 Class for Aston Martin Racing. At the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans, Brabham scored a fourth in the GT1 category (ninth overall) driving for Russian Age Racing. Brabham won the GT1 class of the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans and again in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans driving for Aston Martin Racing.
Automatic entry to the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was granted to teams that had performed well in the previous year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 2007 seasons of the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, FIA GT Championship, and the Petit Le Mans. The official list of automatic invites was published by the ACO on 16 November 2007, with confirmation of entries accepted by teams published on 18 January 2008.
This is a list of records in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, since 1923. This page is accurate up to and including the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 34th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1966. It was also the seventh round of the 1966 World Sportscar Championship season. This was the first overall win at Le Mans for the Ford GT40 as well as the first overall win for an American constructor. It was also the debut Le Mans start for two significant drivers: Henri Pescarolo, who went on to set the record for the most starts at Le Mans; and Jacky Ickx, whose record of six Le Mans victories stood until beaten by Tom Kristensen in 2005.
The 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 74th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place over 17–18 June 2006. It saw for the first time in Le Mans history the victory of a diesel-powered car (the Audi R10 TDI).
The 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans () was the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race, and formed the third round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season. It was held on 16–17 June 2012 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and was organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO).
24 Hours of Le Mans (motorcycle race) 24 Hours of LeMons Endurance racing Le Mans 24 Hours video games List of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners List of 24 hours of Le Mans records Triple Crown of Motorsport Radio Le Mans
The 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 19th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 23 and 24 June 1950. It was won by Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead in their works-entered Jaguar C-type, the first Le Mans win for the marque.
Over time, Le Mans has influenced events that have sprung up all around the globe, popularizing the 24-hour format at locations such as Daytona, Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, and Bathurst. The American Le Mans Series and Europe's Le Mans Series of multi-event sports car championships were spun off from 24 Hours of Le Mans regulations. Other races include the Le Mans Classic, a race for historic Le Mans race cars from years' past held on the Circuit de la Sarthe, a motorcycle version of the race which is held on the shortened Bugatti version of the same circuit, a kart race (24 Heures Karting), a truck race (24 Heures Camions), and a parody race 24 Hours of LeMons.
The 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 67th 24 Hours of Le Mans, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1999.
Timo Bernhard became the first driver since 2005 to complete the Triple Crown of endurance racing (winning the 2003 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring); Marco Werner (ran aboard a Highcroft Racing LMP2 car this year) was the last one to do such feat (won the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona and completed in 2005 with wins in both Sebring and Le Mans). In addition, Rockenfeller became the first driver since to win both the 24 Hours of Daytona (race report) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the same year; Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace of Tom Walkinshaw Racing were the last two drivers to do the same feat.
The 1926 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 4th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1926. It was the first Le Mans race where the winner's average speed was over , and also the first to break the 24-hour distance record set by Selwyn Edge at Brooklands in 1907.
The same year he partnered Hill and won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Their victory came in a 3-litre Ferrari and secured the World Sportscar Championship for the Ferrari factory. They covered 2,511 miles with an average speed of 107 miles per hour. Hill became the first American to win the event and their Ferrari was the sole factory-sponsored car running at the end. Ferrari drivers took the first three positions at the conclusion of the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans and, as they were to be again the following year, Hill and Gendebien were first, averaging 115.89 miles per hour, and establishing a race record. The duo were a natural fit and together they won the Le Mans race three times in total, with Gendebien winning it a fourth time, partnered by fellow Belgian Paul Frère in . Gendebien's record number of Le Mans victories was not exceeded until , when fellow-Belgian Jacky Ickx won for the fifth time.
The 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans ("24 Heures du Mans 2011") was the 79th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 11–12 June 2011 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It was the third round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, and was part of a World Championship or International Cup for the first time since 1992, when it was part of the World Sportscar Championship. The race was attended by 249,500 spectators.
Radio Le Mans first covered the Nürburgring 24 hours race as part of its Le Mans 24 hour coverage in 2006 (the races ran on the same dates that year).