British racing green triumphs at La Sarthe

Le Mans Legends

From a superb 48-car field, Willie Green claimed a famous victory in the Le Mans Legends race run as a warmup to the 24-hour race in June. After more than an hour of flat-out action, Green’s Ligier JS1 took the flag by a scant margin from the Chevron B16 of Michel Quiniou/Steve Hitchins.

Using a traditional Le Mans grid formation, the carefully selected field included Jackie Oliver in the race-winning Ford GT40 and three-time Le Mans winner Phil Hill in an Alfa. Unfortunately, as the American legend prepared to take over, the car expired in the pitlane!

The demise of the Ferrari 512S of Mark Hales mid-race left the way open for Green as the pre-1971 cars made a great sight on the famous circuit.

The Lola T70 Mk3 of former hillclimber Craig Jones and Nick Amey claimed the final podium position, while David Piper showed his class by forging his Porsche 917K up into fourth place.