Jacky Ickx started the 1977 24 hours race together with Henri Pescarolo in the Porsche 936/77 (#3), the same type in which he won the 1976 edition with Gijs van Lennep. Porsche has a chance of winning again despite the presence of 4 fast Alpine A442 cars. Two Alpines start on the front row; Porsche is 1 second slower.
The private Alpine from Team Hughes de Chaunac is the first to retire in the first lap. But Porsche is not spared either. After 54 laps at 18.50, Pescarolo comes into the pits with a broken engine; he had made to much revs. The second Porsche, driven by Jurgen Barth and Hurley Haywood, had already lost 30 minutes in the pits with a failing fuel pump.The race looks already over. Renault has no one to fear anymore and they are in the lead ahead of the Mirage.
But nobody sees it, but when the night begins to fall, Jacky Ickx is ready in the pits, helmet on, to get behind the wheel of the 936 #4 fallen way back. They occupy P41 with 33'48"behind the Alpine A442 of Jabouille and Bell; that is 9 laps.
In the hours that follow, Ickx delivers a great performance. In three hours time, he brings the Porsche again into the top 6. It is now Haywood who gets behind the wheel for just one stint, because Ickx gets back at the wheel fto keep pushing again during a 3 hour stint and at dawn, Porsche #4 occupies the third position. Alpine reacted in the night and ordered the drivers to increase their speed. Second retirement of the Alpine of Tambay-Jausssaud (#7) in the night (158 laps), turbo gone. In the morning, after 257 laps, engine gone for the Jabouille/Bell Alpine and 32 laps later the last one, the car of F1 drivers Lafitte and Depailler. The Porsche is in front with a considerable advantage on the Mirage Gr8 (#10) driven by Schuppan and Jarier.
But then .... with only 45 minutes left in the race, a white smoke is coming out of the rear of the Porsche. The mirage is no threat, but you have to cross the finish line in Le Mans to get a classification. The Porsche is called into the pits. The mechanics shut down one cilinder and with 5 minutes to go, Barth is sent out again for a final lap. The raw-sounding 936 very slowly covers the last 14 km and becomes the winner. Jacky Ickx is exhausted, but very satisfied next to his teammates on the podium.
Publication: 12/02/2023Back to overview
