No second miracle
The Martini-liveried Porsche 936/78 No. 6 of Jurgen Barth, Bob Wollek and Jacky Ickx awaits the start of the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans, under a particularly blue sky (photo above).
Jacky Ickx, winner of the previous edition with Barth and Haywood, is the lead driver of the No. 5 936/78 which he shares with Henri Pescarolo and Jochen Mass, but the Martini Racing Porsche System team is keen to keep him in reserve on the second car, as he is the benchmark here at Le Mans.
As in the previous year, the Pescarolo/Ickx car would have mechanical problems very early in the race, and Porsche again switched Ickx to the Barth/Wollek car, a tactic that had worked so well in 1977.
As in 1977, the Belgian made a splendid comeback during the night which took him up to second position at midnight, behind the Alpine Renault A443 of Jabouille/Depailler, but the loss of fifth gear cost him half an hour in his pit.
When the leading Alpine Renault A443 came to a halt with a broken gearbox, it seemed like a repeat of the previous year’s race. Ultimately, the Alpine-Renault A442B (photo below), driven by Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud inherited the lead and, despite a few close calls, won by seven laps over the Porsches. For Renault, it was sweet revenge for the disappointment of 1977.
