Ten Le Mans 24h winners enter 2018 Classic event

Ten Le Mans 24 Hours winners will join approximately 1000 other drivers for the ninth running of the Le Mans Classic on July 6-8.

Jurgen Barth, Romain Dumas, Loic Duval, Jan Lammers, Gerard Larrousse, Klaus Ludwig, Jochen Mass, Stephane Ortelli, Henri Pescarolo and Marco Werner are set to compete in the 2018 edition of the Classic.

But Derek Bell will not join them as he has elected not to race a Porsche 917 due to the great diversity of driving ability in the field.

The former winners have accumulated a total of 19 victories and 145 starts in the 24-hour race between 1967 and 2018.

Pescarolo holds the record for the most starts with 33, and scored four victories.

Dumas will race several cars in the event – over the 24 hours, six grids spanning Le Mans history from 1929 to ’81 will each race three times – including a Porsche 917. Pescarolo is due to race an Inaltera prototype from 1978.

Both Mass and Ortelli, as well as British Touring Car racer Sam Tordoff, will race Porsche 356s in the series of hour-long races.

Three former F1 drivers will also take part in the event – Rene Arnoux in a 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 and a ’79 BMW M1 Procar), Jacques Laffite will drive a ’66 Lola T70 Mk3, and Paul Belmondo will race in an ’81 Porsche 935.

More leading names from motorsport in action will be Alain Serpaggi (1978 Alpine A443), Guy Frequelin (1964 Rene Bonnet Djet) and Willi Kauhsen (Porsche 917).

You can follow the Le Mans Classic on Motorsport.com this weekend via livestream.

Story by Paul Lawrence

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