1984 24 Hours of Le Mans

In early 1984, the sport's governing body FISA announced abrupt changes to the Group C fuel regulations, aligning them more closely with the American IMSA series. Porsche and Lancia objected strongly, having invested heavily in fuel-efficient engine technology under the existing rules. The Rothmans Porsche works team chose to boycott the race entirely — the first Le Mans without a Porsche works entry since the marque's debut in 1951. The minimum weight for the main class rose to 850 kg to accommodate IMSA GTP entries, while the Group C Junior class was renamed Group C2 and the senior class became Group C1. A fuel counter mechanism replaced mandatory pit-stop rules, allowing teams to experiment with fuel strategy.

With the works team absent, the onus of Porsche honour fell on the strong customer teams: Joest, Kremer and John Fitzpatrick Racing, each fielding the latest 956B. Lancia arrived with their LC2, equipped with a bored-out Ferrari 3.0-litre V8 and electronic engine management, capable of more than 350 km/h on the straight. Bob Tullius' American Group 44 Racing team made a celebrated return of the Jaguar name to Le Mans with two XJR-5s, their first appearance in more than two decades.

Lancia locked out the front row of the grid, with Bob Wollek taking pole at 3:17.1. In excellent weather the race started at 3pm and the opening laps produced a sprint-race spectacle, with fifteen lead changes in the first 50 laps as a half-dozen cars fought for position. The Joest Porsche of Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig was delayed almost immediately by fuel-pressure problems and fell to 30th position within the first hour — their recovery would be the race's central narrative.

At 9:15pm, as dusk fell on the Hunaudières Straight, John Sheldon's Nimrod-Aston Martin suffered a violent accident at the Mulsanne kink. The car hit the Armco, ricocheted across the track into fencing and burst into flames. Sheldon was airlifted to hospital with serious burns, and flag marshal Jacky Loiseau was killed by flying debris — the race's gravest moment. Racing resumed after an hour behind safety cars.

Through the night the Wollek/Nannini Lancia led, but at 7am on Sunday reliability finally failed: a gearbox problem cost the leading Lancia an hour, and their second car lost time soon after. The Joest Porsche, which had been climbing steadily throughout the night, inherited the lead and held it to the flag. Ludwig brought the car home two laps clear of the Porsche of Preston Henn in second.

Henri Pescarolo became only the third driver to win Le Mans four times, joining Jacky Ickx and Olivier Gendebien at the top of the all-time list. For Klaus Ludwig it was a second victory, following his 1979 win with the Kremer team. Most remarkably, the Joest Porsche had been 30th after the first hour — never before in the race's history had a winning car come back from such an early deficit. The four new 956B cars all finished, four of them in the top six places.

In the Group C2 class the Lola-Mazda of the BF Goodrich team took victory, while neither of the Jaguars reached the finish. The Bellancauto Ferrari retired early and would be the last Ferrari to race at Le Mans for a decade.

The outcome validated the Group C formula's competitiveness even in the absence of the dominant works team. For Porsche it was a ninth overall victory, equalling the Ferrari total. FISA subsequently confirmed a reduction of the fuel allocation from 600 to 530 litres for 1985.

Pole position: Bob Wollek, Lancia LC2, 3:17.1 (248.9 km/h)

Fastest lap: Alessandro Nannini, Lancia LC2, 3:28.9

Winning distance: 4,900.28 km

Winner's average speed: 204.18 km/h