The FIA renamed the championship the World Sports-Prototype Championship and relaxed fuel restrictions, raising the C1 and GTP allocation from 2,210 to 2,550 litres. The ACO installed triple-tier Armco along the Hunaudières Straight following serious accidents in previous years, and also introduced a pre-race test day for the first time since 1974.
Tom Walkinshaw Racing arrived with a full Jaguar works effort for the first time, fielding three XJR-6 cars. Designed by Tony Southgate, the car's 6.0-litre normally-aspirated V12 produced 630 bhp and drew massive support from British fans. Porsche fielded the works team and a large customer armada: 15 cars in total in the top class. The strong Joest team brought the same lucky 956B chassis that had won in both 1984 and 1985, crewed again by Klaus Ludwig and Paolo Barilla. Lancia withdrew from motor-racing partway through the season following multiple tragedies including the deaths of Henri Toivonen and Giacomo Maggi.
The works Porsches locked out the front row of the grid, with Jochen Mass on pole at 3:15.99. From the start Ludwig and Boutsen (Brun) immediately challenged the Rothmans cars, and the Joest 956B took the lead and held it through the afternoon and into the night.
The Jaguars were competitive but could not match the turbo Porsches for pace and gradually fell behind, leading the rest of the non-Joest field before both cars were forced out with suspension and transmission failures.
At around 3am Sunday, Jochen Mass, running third, emerged from the Porsche Curves to find the Ecurie Ecosse C2 car of Mike Wilds spun across the road on spilled oil. Mass hit Wilds' car, destroying both front suspension members. The Ecosse nose was sliced off but the team remarkably repaired the car within 50 minutes, rejoining still two laps ahead of its class rivals.
Shortly after came the race's tragedy. Jo Gartner, driving the Kremer Porsche and pushing to reclaim lost time, suffered a transmission failure accelerating onto the Hunaudières back straight. The rear wheels locked instantly and the car hit the Armco at 260 km/h, broke through, hit a telephone pole, and was launched into the air before landing upside-down on fire on the opposite barrier. Gartner died instantly. The field was held behind pace cars for two and a half hours to allow barrier repair.
During the extended caution period, the cooling of the engines caused the leading Joest car's bearings to run. Ludwig's engine failed. The Rothmans Porsche of Bell, Stuck and Al Holbert, which had been circulating behind the pace car, inherited the lead with a nine-lap advantage over the rest of the field that was unassailable.
Bell, Stuck and Holbert won comfortably by eight laps over the Brun Porsche of Oscar Larrauri, Jesús Pareja and Joël Gouhier. Derek Bell joined an elite group of four-time Le Mans winners. Al Holbert became only the first person with Stuck to win both Daytona and Le Mans in the same year. It was Porsche's sixth consecutive victory at the circuit.
Eight of the Porsches in the C1 class finished, all in the top ten. The Ecurie Ecosse won the C2 class after its extraordinary pit repair following the Mass collision. The new Spice-Fiero, despite spending two and a half hours on clutch repairs, was classified as the last finisher but won the Index of Thermal Efficiency.
Nissan made its Le Mans debut this year, a significant if troubled entry for the manufacturer. Kremer Racing, devastated by the loss of Gartner, considered shutting entirely but instead set about redesigning their 962 tub to safer specifications.
Pole position: Jochen Mass, Porsche 962C, 3:15.99 (248.5 km/h)
Fastest lap: Klaus Ludwig, Porsche 956B, 3:23.3
Winning distance: 4,972.73 km
Winner's average speed: 207.20 km/h
Attendance: 150,000
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