Release n°13 - Sunday 12h00 - 14h00

Final twist to the race !.
Toyota retires and Porsche wins their 13th victory

Bob Wollek was very lucid : We'll never win without luck as the Toyota is quicker than us. Stéphane Ortelli was less emphatic : "there are still two hours racing to go and it's not over yet." He was right! At 12h35 the no.29 Toyota was seen at low speed after Mulsanne and it then stopped for good with a broken gear shaft.
Andre de Cortanze was very disappointed : "We'll be back at Le Mans in June 1999. We've proved that we can win the 24 Hour race." Thus the way was open for the two Porsche 911 GT1s 98 as the third-placed Nissan was in no position to challenge the German cars. Four Nissans at the start and four at the finish. They were reliable but not quick enough. Indeed, the nos 31 and 32 were unable to catch the no.40 McLaren which finally finished fourth in the hands of O'Rourke-Sugden-Auberlen.

The LMP1 Category was won by the Doyle-Risi Racing Ferrari 333 SP ahead of the K8 Kremer and a second Ferrari, no.3 driven by Baldi-Theys-Moretti which passed the no.24 Courage Porsche in the final hour.

Like Alexander Wurz in 1996 and Tom Kristensen in 1997 Laurent Aielllo won Le Mans on his first attempt and together with Ortelli and McNish gave Porsche their 13th success in the Sarthe by a works team, the 16th if the Joest and Dauer victories are taken into account.

Another piece of history was that for the first time 3 Japanese drivers finished on the rostrum, namely, Auguri Suzuki, Hoshino and Kageyama.