The FIA pushed through several changes ahead of the race, most controversially downgrading the prescribed fuel from 105-octane to 98-octane and removing toluene additives — a change lobbied for by Jaguar to reduce turbo-car advantage. The Dunlop Curve was also tightened and a chicane added before the Dunlop Bridge, adding only seven metres to the circuit's length but four to five seconds per lap. The ACO introduced Radio Le Mans, which provided English-language race commentary to the large British crowd.
Jaguar arrived as overwhelming favourites, having won all four championship rounds to date. Tom Walkinshaw Racing's new XJR-8 had received more than 60 modifications; its 7.0-litre V12 now produced 720 bhp and the cars were completed in Kevlar-reinforced tyres to handle the massive downforce loads. The Rothmans Porsche team had developed a new fully water-cooled 3.0-litre engine for their 962s, but their third car was written off when Price Cobb hit oil at the Porsche Curves in qualifying.
Sauber debuted the dramatically improved C9, with almost twice the downforce of the previous C8 and the Mercedes M117 engine producing up to 800 bhp in qualifying trim.
The race started in damp conditions and the first hour was chaotic. The fuel change caused immediate damage: the Bosch engine-management systems ran the mixture too rich for the reduced-octane fuel, holing pistons in the Porsche turbo engines. Both Joest cars retired within seven laps. The Kremer entry followed soon after. The works team's second car was also afflicted, leaving Bell and Stuck the sole surviving works Porsche, chased by all three Jaguars.
As twilight fell, rain returned. The BLR Porsche of Jonathon Palmer caught fire at the Mulsanne corner just after midnight and the car was burnt out, though Weaver escaped unhurt. At 2:45am, Win Percy's Jaguar suffered a high-speed tyre failure at well over 350 km/h approaching Mulsanne. The car rolled and disintegrated across 300 metres of road. Percy climbed out unhurt from the intact cockpit — designer Tony Southgate later highlighted that not a drop of fuel from the near-full tank had spilled. The resulting safety-car period lasted nearly two hours, which effectively removed any fuel-consumption pressure on the Porsche.
When racing resumed at dawn, Jaguar's two remaining cars were still in contention. Raul Boesel went off at Arnage at 7am and Martin Brundle retired with a cracked cylinder head at 7:45am. The works Porsche was left alone with a fifteen-lap lead.
Bell, Stuck and Holbert won by twenty laps — the biggest winning margin of the decade. It was Bell's fifth Le Mans victory, elevating him to second on the all-time list behind only Jacky Ickx's six wins. Holbert and Bell had also paired to win Daytona in the same year for a second consecutive year.
The Obermaier Racing Porsche — a small privateer team — finished an excellent second, having quietly avoided the mechanical carnage around them. Yves Courage finished third in his Cougar, almost running out of fuel on the final lap. Only twelve cars were officially classified.
Porsche claimed their twelfth victory and seventh in a row. Despite the defeat, Jaguar won the 1987 World Championship by winning eight of the ten season rounds. The Porsche works team subsequently withdrew from the championship to focus on its McLaren TAG Formula 1 engine program.
Gordon Spice won the C2 class convincingly over the Ecurie Ecosse; the two teams had split nine of the ten championship C2 rounds between them. The only GTP finisher was the European-crewed Mazda, which came seventh overall.
Pole position: Bob Wollek, Porsche 962C, 3:21.1 (242.3 km/h)
Fastest lap: Johnny Dumfries, Sauber C9, 3:25.4
Winning distance: 4,791.70 km
Winner's average speed: 199.66 km/h
Attendance: over 120,000
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