The race took place during a turbulent transitional period for sportscar regulations. FISA had introduced a new 3.5-litre non-turbocharged formula intended to align sportscars with Formula 1 technology, but the uptake was slow. To fill the grid, the ACO and FISA reached a compromise allowing the old Group C cars — now designated Category 2 — to return, though piston-engined examples were penalised with 100 kg of extra ballast. Rotary-engined Mazdas were exempt from this penalty, a regulatory oversight that would have significant consequences.
A further complication arose over the participation of non-championship manufacturers. Nissan and Toyota had abstained from the World Championship, and the original ruling would have barred them from Le Mans. After an emergency meeting, a compromise allowed non-registered cars to enter if sponsored by an SWC team using the same engine — but in practice no teams ran Nissan or Toyota engines, effectively keeping those manufacturers out.
The ACO had completed an extensive rebuild of the pits complex, replacing the facility that dated from after the 1955 disaster. The new installation cost over £12 million, accommodated 46 pit bays each five times the size of the old ones, and included a 2,900-seat grandstand and modern race-control centre.
Squally weather disrupted both qualifying sessions. In a narrow dry window on Wednesday evening, Jean-Louis Schlesser set pole in the Sauber-Mercedes C11 with a 3:31.3, with Andy Wallace second in the Jaguar XJR-14 — which TWR subsequently withdrew from the race, electing to focus on their more battle-hardened XJR-12s. The two Peugeots filled the front row as the fastest Category 1 cars; under the FISA rule, the top ten grid positions were mandated to go to Category 1 entrants regardless of qualifying speed, meaning the two slowest Chamberlain Spices — lapping over 30 seconds slower — lined up ahead of the fastest Mercedes.
Michael Schumacher, sharing a Mercedes C11 with the Junior Team, was involved in a heavy collision with a Porsche while being lapped during the race but emerged unhurt.
The Peugeots of Keke Rosberg/Yannick Dalmas and Philippe Alliot led from the start and set the early pace. However, within the first hour a fuel fire enveloped one Peugeot during a pitstop, and a persistent misfire ended the other's competitive race shortly after. The Sauber-Mercedes cars took command, running 1-2-3 for several hours with the C11s of Jean-Louis Schlesser/Jochen Mass/Alain Ferté leading. Michael Schumacher, in the Junior Team car, set a new lap record during the night — a 3:35.5, cutting five seconds from the previous benchmark.
Jaguar's extra ballast and larger engine forced the team to run 5-6 seconds per lap slower than their fuel consumption targets allowed, limiting their challenge. Their three XJR-12s nevertheless circulated in the top ten. The Mazda 787Bs, lighter than any Porsche by at least 150 kg due to the rotary-engine loophole, ran consistently in fifth and sixth.
The decisive moment came at 12:50 pm on Sunday, when Alain Ferté received an urgent radio call to pit immediately as engine temperatures soared. The alternator bracket had broken, causing the waterpump belt to slip off. Without coolant circulation the engine could not be saved. After leading for almost seventeen hours, the Mercedes was out. The Mazda 787B of Volker Weidler, Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot had been tracking the pace and moved into the lead with three hours to go.
Johnny Herbert drove the closing stint and brought the Mazda home by two laps over the IMSA Jaguar of Davy Jones, Raul Boesel and Michel Ferté. Two more Jaguars filled third and fourth. The surviving Sauber-Mercedes Junior car of Karl Wendlinger, Schumacher and Fritz Kreutzpointner finished fifth despite losing half an hour to gear-selection problems mid-race. The two other Mazda 787Bs came home sixth and eighth.
Herbert was so exhausted after his two-hour final stint — having not slept at any point during the 24 hours — that he collapsed getting out of the car and had to be taken to the medical centre. The winning distance was 4,922.81 km at 205.3 km/h average.
Mazda's victory was the first Le Mans win for a Japanese manufacturer, a fact of such cultural weight in Japan that television networks interrupted regular programming to broadcast the final eight hours. The rotary 787B remains the only rotary-engined car to win at Le Mans outright, and almost certainly the last. The lighter weight granted by the rotary exemption gave the Mazda a power-to-weight ratio advantage over every rival, and the guidance of Jacky Ickx as a consultant contributed measurably to the team's strategic approach. Mercedes-Benz closed its sportscar program in December 1991, following Porsche's gradual withdrawal, leaving Peugeot, Toyota and Mazda to contest a dwindling championship the following year.
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