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In fourth gear

12. Jan 2021 
by Ziv Knoll
4220 views

At the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans, after four years of trying with previous evolutions, Jaguar took the XJR9 to victory against the works and privately entered (Kremer, Joest, Brun, Schuppan) Porsche 962C’s.

The Silk Cut Jaguar XJR9 (entered by the Tom Walkinshaw Racing) of Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace (main picture, Johnny Dumfries at the wheel) took a narrow victory over the works Porsche 962C of Hans-Joachim Stuck, Klaus Ludwig and Derek Bell, which finished in the same lap.

Winner Jan Lammers remembers: “Everything went smoothly until in the last few hours, I started to have gearbox problems. During my last stint, I didn’t change gears at all, driving out of the pits in 4th gear, I knew I wouldn’t need the clutch any more, and had decided to go to the end in 4th gear. That strategy paid off and luckily we reached the finishing line.”

Picture below: Bruno Giacomelli hard at work in his #10 Kenwood Kremer Racing Porsche 962 in front of the Jaguar XJR9 #22 driven to fourth place by Larry Perkins, Kevin Cogan and Derek Daly. The Italian finishing the race in 9th position.

 

Source: DR

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