“We lifted in the straight”
The 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 30th edition of the great race, and took place on 23 and 24 June 1962. Belgian Olivier Gendebien and American Phil Hill took overall victory in their works Ferrari 330 TRI/LM.
Pierre Noblet and Jean Guichet (picture above) improved from their third place from the previous year, finishing second in their Ferrari 250 GTO, five laps down on the winners, but winning the GT division a clear 12 laps ahead of the Belgian GTO (picture below) driven by competent gentleman drivers “Eldé” (Leon Dernier) and “Beurlys” (Jean Blaton).
Pierre Noblet explained his successes at Le Mans: “Jean and myself never forgot it’s a tough endurance race and not a sprint. We knew our car was capable of reaching the end, if we were careful. Each and every lap, we lifted one or two times in the Mulsanne Straight, not to over-stress the engine. The others were going flat-out, and broke down. We reached the finishing line and got good results.”
Even tough only four of their 15 starters made it to the finish, the win made Ferrari the most successful marque at Le Mans, with six wins, ahead of Jaguar’s and Bentley’s five. As it turned out, it would be the last win of a front-engined car.
