The Automobile Club de l'Ouest made sweeping regulatory changes for 1999, fundamentally closing the gap between open-top prototypes and closed-top GT cars. The LM-GT1 class was renamed LM-GTP to reflect that those machines were effectively purpose-built racers rather than production derivatives. Both LMP and GTP cars now shared the same 90-litre fuel tank, the same maximum width of 200 cm, and a maximum engine size of 4.0 litres if turbocharged. Technical aids including traction control and ABS-brakes were banned even where previously homologated. The GT2 class was renamed LM-GTS, requiring a metal chassis. A new entry-level LM-GT category was introduced for near-production cars.
The changes brought unprecedented factory involvement. Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Nissan, Panoz, and Riley & Scott all sent works or factory-supported entries. Audi made its Le Mans debut, entering both an open prototype (the R8R) and a closed GTP car (the R8C). Porsche, having won in 1998, was absent from the works ranks but continued through customer teams.
Three separate accidents involving the Mercedes CLR defined the week. During pre-qualifying and then Thursday practice, Mark Webber suffered two airborne incidents at high speed on the Hunaudières straight, the car lifting its nose and somersaulting before landing heavily. On both occasions Webber emerged unhurt.
The most alarming incident came in the fifth hour of the race itself. Peter Dumbreck, running second, crested a rise at Indianapolis following Martin Brundle's Toyota. The CLR became airborne, somersaulted three times to near-treetop height, and flew more than 60 metres into trees lining the circuit. By extraordinary fortune the car landed on its wheels in a clearing where trees had been felled only weeks before. Dumbreck was briefly knocked unconscious but walked away from the wreck. Mercedes immediately withdrew both remaining cars. The structural integrity of the CLR's monocoque had protected drivers through all three crashes, but the aero instability was systemic and no solution was available mid-race.
Toyota entered as favourites with the heavily revised GT-One. The cars proved blindingly fast — Brundle took pole at 3:29.9, the first sub-3:30 lap at Le Mans since 1993. In the early hours the Toyotas, Mercedes, and BMWs ran in close formation at the front. The lead Toyota dropped back after a power-steering fluid leak contaminated the gearbox, requiring a 25-minute repair that put it nine laps down.
After Mercedes withdrew, it became a straight fight between the BMW of Tom Kristensen and the surviving Toyota of Allan McNish. Both cars ran on the same lap through the night. At 3:10am Thierry Boutsen, charging in the third Toyota to recover a three-lap deficit, attempted to overtake a GT car at the Dunlop chicane and was rammed from behind by a heavier Porsche. The Toyota went airborne into the barriers. Boutsen suffered multiple broken vertebrae and was helicoptered to hospital; the accident left BMW with a comfortable advantage.
That advantage evaporated at midday. Running four laps clear, JJ Lehto's BMW had its right-front suspension collapse entering the Porsche Curves; the throttle jammed open and the car hit the wall hard. Lehto suffered a concussion. Within moments the remaining Toyota was on the same lap as the second BMW of Dalmas, Martini, and Winkelhock.
The finale was a sprint. Japanese driver Ukyo Katayama lapped at 3:35.0, closing on Dalmas at two to three seconds per lap. With an hour remaining Katayama was baulked by a backmarker, took a kerb, and suffered a puncture at speed approaching Indianapolis. He nursed the car back to the pits, losing over four minutes. The chase was over. Dalmas crossed the line a lap ahead, BMW's total pit time over 24 hours amounting to just 33 minutes.
Dalmas scored his fourth Le Mans victory — with a fourth different manufacturer — joining an elite group of multiple winners. Third and fourth overall went to the two Audi R8R prototypes, encouraging results for a brand making its Le Mans debut. The Audi R8C GTP coupés both retired with gearbox failures, but the spyder program pointed directly toward Audi's subsequent dynasty.
In LM-GTS the Chrysler Viper GTS-R run by ORECA dominated entirely, claiming the top six class positions. The lead ORECA car of Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger, and Dominique Dupuy won the class by seven laps without a significant incident. The new LM-GT class was won by the Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3.
The 1999 race also served as a farewell for several iconic figures. Henri Pescarolo completed his record 33rd Le Mans start as a driver and announced his retirement. Thierry Boutsen, from his hospital bed, also retired from motorsport. For Toyota, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, 1999 proved their last Le Mans appearance of the era as all three redirected resources toward Formula 1. The Nissan prototype project was shut down by financial pressures at the parent company. Audi alone remained, and would go on to transform endurance racing over the following decade.
The Mercedes CLR accidents prompted years of aerodynamic study and remain among the most visually dramatic incidents in Le Mans history. Race distance was 4,983.0 km at an average speed of 207.6 km/h, with attendance recorded at 160,000.
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