Since 1968, Group 6 Prototypes had been limited to 3-litre engines. Group 4 Sports Cars with engines up to 5 litres were permitted if at least 25 units were produced. Porsche exploited this, constructing 25 chassis of the new Porsche 917 with a 4.5-litre 12-cylinder engine producing 520 bhp, achieving Group 4 homologation in time for races after April 1969. The first chassis to a private buyer was acquired by Briton John Woolfe, who paid £16,000.
The 917 featured movable aerodynamic wings linked to the suspension, which the CSI had banned at the Monaco Grand Prix in May as dangerous. Porsche team manager Rico Steinemann argued the car was inherently unstable without them. A last-minute FISA decision the day before the race allowed the 917s to run with the wings, while the 908s — having previously run without — had to race without them. Matra objected but did not protest.
The ACO moved the start to 2:00 p.m. to allow French spectators time to vote in the second round of the 1969 French presidential election. New Armco barriers were installed around the circuit, including on the Mulsanne Straight where there had previously been no protection from trees and embankments.
Porsche arrived having already secured the 1969 International Championship for Makes, fielding 16 cars — one-third of the 45-car grid. Three factory 917s ran in longtail form for Vic Elford/Richard Attwood and Rolf Stommelen/Kurt Ahrens. Works 908s included a car for Jo Siffert and Brian Redman with strong factory support through Siffert's Hart Ski sponsorship. Ford entered five GT40s, two by John Wyer's J.W. Automotive with Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver and David Hobbs/Mike Hailwood. The SEFAC-Ferrari works team returned after a year's absence with two 312P prototypes for Chris Amon and Pedro Rodriguez. Matra developed a new open 650 design; Henri Pescarolo had been badly injured testing the earlier coupé 640, which somersaulted on the Mulsanne in April.
The Alfa Romeo Autodelta works team withdrew following the death of lead driver Lucien Bianchi at the March test weekend. Bianchi was killed when his new Tipo 33/3 suffered apparent mechanical failure at over 305 km/h on the Hunaudières straight and crashed into a telephone pole.
In the test weekend, Stommelen set a 3:30.7 in the 917, over three seconds faster than the next car. In qualifying, he recorded 3:22.9 for pole — more than two seconds faster than teammate Elford, and 0.7 seconds quicker than the 1967 lap record set by the larger Ford Mark IVs. Ickx qualified the leading Ford in 13th.
Ickx staged a one-man protest against the Le Mans start, mindful of the 1968 race when Willy Mairesse crashed on the first lap trying to close his door at speed on the Mulsanne Straight — an accident that ended Mairesse's career. While other drivers ran across the track, Ickx walked to his car and properly fastened his seat belts, dropping to the back of the field.
On the very first lap, Woolfe crashed approaching Maison Blanche when his 917 got two wheels on the grass. Not yet properly strapped in, he was ejected as the car spun, rolled, hit an embankment, and exploded. He was transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital but was dead on arrival. The dislodged fuel tank landed burning ahead of Amon's Ferrari 312P, jamming underneath and rupturing his tank. Amon activated the on-board fire extinguisher and escaped uninjured but was forced to retire. Debris virtually blocked the road, halting most of the field.
Stommelen led to the first pit stops before a transmission oil leak delayed him. Siffert and Redman took the lead until a gearbox oil leak retired their car after four hours. The Elford/Attwood 917 then led, with a four-lap advantage at the 2:00 a.m. halfway mark over the two Wyer Fords. At 2:45 a.m. the 908s of Udo Schütz and Larrousse collided at the Mulsanne kink; Schütz's car rolled and burst into flames, though he escaped uninjured.
At 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, with barely three hours remaining, the Elford/Attwood 917 retired with a cracked weld in its gearbox. Minutes later, the 908 of Lins and Willi Kauhsen stopped on the Mulsanne with a broken clutch. The Ickx/Oliver Ford inherited the lead, with the Hans Herrmann and Larrousse 908 second after recovering from the collision damage.
Going into the final hour, both teams put their fastest driver in: Ickx and Herrmann. Both cars were suffering — the Ford with exhaust problems, the 908 with fading brakes and an engine approximately 400 rpm down on power. The two drivers repeatedly overtook each other. Ickx understood that if he led onto the Mulsanne straight, Herrmann's car would pass him on the straight, but he could use the slipstream to retake the lead before the Mulsanne corner and hold it for the rest of the lap.
The cars crossed the finish line with less than a minute remaining, forcing one more lap. The Ford had only ever completed 23 laps on a tank of fuel but now needed an extra lap. On that final lap, Ickx let Herrmann pass him early on the Mulsanne straight, feigning fuel starvation. He then used the Porsche's slipstream to retake the lead before the end of the 5 km straight and held it to the finish. The Ford GT40 won by approximately 120 metres (390 feet).
Ickx and Oliver won with GT40 chassis 1075 — nicknamed "Old Lady" — the same car that had won the 1968 race. It was only the second time the same car won two consecutive years; a Bentley Speed Six had done it in 1929 and 1930. Ickx dedicated the victory to Lucien Bianchi. It was the first of six Le Mans wins for Ickx, a record that stood until 2005 when Tom Kristensen surpassed it.
The Hobbs/Hailwood Wyer Ford finished third, four laps behind. The Matra of Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Piers Courage was fourth. The only Alpine finisher was the smallest: the 1-litre A210 of Serpaggi and Ethuin, twelfth overall, won the Index of Performance by covering almost 30% more distance than its small-engine target. For the first time since 1926, no all-British entry appeared among the finishers.
Following Ickx's protest and the death of Woolfe, the ACO discontinued the traditional Le Mans start. Later in 1969, Enzo Ferrari sold sufficient holdings to raise Fiat S.p.A.'s stake in his company to 50%. Porsche lost works driver Gerhard Mitter when he was killed during practice at the German Grand Prix; Vic Elford also suffered a serious accident at the same race. Long-time ACO race director Jacques Loste, in the post since 1957, retired that year and was succeeded by Charles Deutsch.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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