History books will show that Audi took a one-two at the 2014 instalment of the Le Mans 24-hour race, while the best-placed Porsche in the LMP1 group crossed the finish line in 11th position overall, or fifth in class. Hardly a dream weekend for the German company’s return to Le Mans in the top racing category. Nonetheless, the final results don’t tell the full picture, and you can be sure that Porsche is being taken very seriously indeed. After all, just three hours before the end of the race, the Porsche 919 Hybrid racer of Mark Webber was leading the pack. But that’s how endurance racing works.
Porsche is no stranger to the theatre of Le Mans. It has won the event 16 times, which is more than any other constructor – even Audi. But that statistic only begins to reveal how closely Porsche and Le Mans are linked.
The relationship began in 1951, when a Porsche 356 Super Light finished 20th overall. It took Porsche nearly 20 additional years of trying before it won the race outright, despite coming close several times in the interim. Nonetheless, each year, more and more Porsche models were part of the grid, most of them from privateers. In 1970, the factory team dominated proceedings with the legendary Porsche 917 racer, which Richard Attwood took to victory, leading a Porsche one-two-three. It was pandemonium that year, however, as it was the first time that drivers started from within their cars – rather than running to them – and particularly poor weather meant that only 16 racers finished.
Proving that it didn’t win just because of the elements, Porsche took the top two spots on the podium the following year, again with the dominant 917 racer. That year, the lap record, set by Jackie Oliver, was an average speed of more than 250kph. It was 1985 before that speed was achieved again. Not only was Porsche winning the race outright, but its cars were considered to be the best by customer teams, too, resulting in 33 Porsches on the start line in a grid of 48 cars. The grid is far more diverse these days at Le Mans.
Porsche racked up the wins through the 1970s and 1980s, including an unbroken string of seven consecutive victories from 1981 to 1987, which is still a record. Audi would have to win for the next two years to equal that. The Porsche 956, introduced in 1982, changed the face of the event, with a much smoother, streamlined look. The factory team of three cars locked out the podium, and, in a neat marketing move, they finished in the one-two-three order of their race numbers. The following year, a staggering 11 examples of the 956 competed (eight were private entries) and they took positions one to eight at the finish line, with another in 10th. Porsche famously put out an advertisement after the race with the tagline “Nobody’s perfect”.
The most famous victory since then was in 1998, when Allan McNish was part of the team that took the Porsche 911 GT1 to the chequered flag ahead of everyone else, the only time that a 911 has won at Le Mans, albeit a car that was rather different to the regular road-going model. It was, however, homologated for racing by a limited-edition road car, of which 25 examples were required. The Porsche 911 dominates many forms of motorsport, ensuring that Porsche’s motorsport division is a successfully profitable one.
But the stats and trophies are all very well and good; Le Mans has also given Porsche a rich heritage to draw from. Winning race cars that competed there, such as the 917, 935, 936, etc, now have iconic status with car enthusiasts, and fans of the Porsche brand itself. The company is inextricably linked with winning at Le Mans, and you can be sure that it intends to do just that again very soon.
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
Points Classification after Stage 1
1. Geraint Thomas (Britain / Team Sky) 20
2. Stefan Kueng (Switzerland / BMC Racing) 17
3. Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus / Team Sky) 15
4. Tony Martin (Germany / Katusha) 13
5. Matteo Trentin (Italy / Quick-Step) 11
6. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 10
7. Jos van Emden (Netherlands / LottoNL) 9
8. Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland / Team Sky) 8
9. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Quick-Step) 7
10. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway / Dimension Data) 6
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Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Stage 5 results
1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 3:48:53
2 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team -
3 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott -
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:04
5 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) CCC Team 0:00:07
General Classification:
1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 20:35:04
2 Tadej Pogacar (SlO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:01
3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:48
5 Rafał Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:11
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
No_One Ever Really Dies
N*E*R*D
(I Am Other/Columbia)
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
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Disability on screen
Empire — neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues
24: Legacy — PTSD;
Superstore and NCIS: New Orleans — wheelchair-bound
Taken and This Is Us — cancer
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Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg
Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety
Switched at Birth — deafness
One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy
Dragons — double amputee
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Guardians%20of%20the%20Galaxy%20Vol%203
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