#049 Courage

1993 Le Mans 24, Courage C30LM – Porsche. Yves Courage had the opportunity to get the experienced Derek Bell for the 1993 Le Mans. He and his team mates managed a fine 10th place overall and 5th in the Cat.2 for older turbo-charged Group C cars. The sister car finished one place behind them.

• #14 Derek Bell (GB) / Lionel Robert (F) / Pascal Fabre (F) – 10th / 5th cat 2 | SPARK S3662

1995 Le Mans 24h, Courage C34 – Porsche. 1995 Was a good opportunity for the Courage team to win Le Mans, their cars qualified on the 2nd row. It rained very much during the race and the prototypes were not able to convert their higher speed in to an advantage. A small crash by Andretti cost the team a lap, in the end this car had to settle for second behind the winning McLaren F1 GTR.

1996 Le Mans 24h, Courage C36 – Porsche. In 1995, Courage came very close to winning Le Mans. The team tried again this year with the new C36 and a very strong driver line-up: Lammers, Warwick and Andretti. Unfortunately the team had numerous problems during the race and it finished only 13th.

• 1995 #13 Bob Wollek (F) / Mario Andretti (USA) / Eric Hélary (F) – 2nd / 1st WSC | SPARK S4705
• 1996 #4 Jan Lammers (NL) / Mario Andretti (USA) / Derek Warwick (GB) – 13th / 3rd LMP | SPARK S3668

1997 Le Mans 24h, Courage C41 – Porsche. One of the Courages was painted as a Vaillant, the car of French cartoon hero Michel Vaillant. It would happen again in 2002 for a movie. This car with Porsche-engine finished a surprising 4th in a very competitive field.

1998 Le Mans 24h, Courage C36 – Porsche. The Courage team is supported by Nissan this year and they use the new C51. Henri Pescarolo drives one of the older C36’s with a Porsche engine. Unfortunately the car is too slow and not consistent enough, the team finishes way back in 16th position.

• 1997 #13 Didier Cottaz (F) / Jérome Policand (F) / Marc Goossens (B) – 4th / 2nd LMP1 | SPARK SCCG 12
• 1998 #15 Henri Pescarolo (F) / Olivier Grouillard (F) / Franck Montagny (F) – 16th / 5th LMP1 | SPARK S3673

1998 Le Mans 24h, Courage C51 – Nissan. In 1998 Nissan betted on two horses. Not only entered they the GT1 versions of the R390, they also provided two Courage prototypes with Nissan engines, as they would do in 1999. This car was faster in qualifying than last year but 10 places more behind on the grid. That is how fast the GT1’s were this year. Both Courages retired with technical problems.

1999 Le Mans 24h, Courage C52 – Nissan. After the ZX, Skyline and R390’s, Nissan tried to win Le Mans with an open prototype. They supported and entered Courages with Nissan V8 turbo engines and also brought the new R391 with atmospheric V8. This Courage finished 8th.

• 1998 #13 Didier Cottaz (F) / Jean-Philippe Belloc (F) / Marc Goossens (B) – DNF / gearbox | SPARK SCCG 02
• 1999 #21 Didier Cottaz (F) / Frederik Ekblom (S) / Marc Goossens (B) – 8th /7th LMP1 | SPARK SCCG 07

2000 Le Mans 24h, Courage C52 – Peugeot. Four times winner Henri Pescarolo is one of the customers from Courage. Pescarolo performs well, and is supported by Peugeot that provides V6 turbo engines, but they never managed to beat the Audi teams. In 2000 Pescarolo finished 4th and was the best non-Audi.

2001 Le Mans 24h, Courage C60 – Peugeot. Henri Pescaolo uses Courage-chassis’ and is supported by Peugeot who delivers the power plants. The team couldn’t replicate its succes of last year when they finished 4th. This year it was 13th.

• 2000 #16 Sébastien Bourdais (F) / Olivier Grouillard (F) / Emmanuel Clerico (F) – 4th | SPARK SCCG 01
• 2001 #17 Sébastien Bourdais (F) / Laurent Redon (F) / Jean-Christophe Boullion (F) – 13th / 4th LMP900 | SPARK SCCG 09

2002 Le Mans 24h, Courage C60 – Peugeot. Pescarolo still uses the Courage chassis and Peugeot turbo engines. The team adapted the aerodynamics towards some kind of long-tail version, but despite that and the powerful engines the result is somewhat disappointing. This car finished 10th, the sister car retires.

2003 1000 km Bugatti circuit, Courage C60 evo – Peugeot. In the 24-hour race of 2003, the evolution versions of the Courage C60 finish 8th and 9th. During a non-championship 1000 km race at the Bugatti track of Le Mans this Courage finishes second behind the Team Goh Audi R8.

• 2002 #17 Sébastien Bourdais (F) / Franck Lagorce (F) / Jean-Christophe Boullion (F) – 10th | ALTAYA 24 heures du Mans AB 4907
• 2003 #2 Sébastien Bourdais (F) / Franck Lagorce (F) / Stéphane Sarrazin (F) – 2nd | SPARK SCCG 2003 special Pescarolo Sport version 349 pcs

2000 Le Mans 24h, Courage C60 – Judd. Philippe Gache started his own team: SMG. He was the first to use the new Courage C60, a 4.0 liter Judd V10 engine and Pirelli tires. The team managed to qualify in 6th position, 6 seconds faster than the Pescarolo team that used the older C52. During the race, the suspension collapsed.

• #17 Philippe Gache (F) / Didier Cottaz (F) / Gary Formato (SA) – DNF / suspension | SPARK SCCG 08

2003 Le Mans 24h, Courage C60 – Judd & C65 – JPX. Courage Competition participated with two cars this year. #13 was a C60 entered in LMP900 (P1 in 2005) and used a 4.0-liter Judd V10 engine. The #31 was the all new C65, designed for the LMP675 category (which would be P2 next year). The engine was a 3.4-liter JPX that was based on a Nissan V6, but was far from reliable.

• #13 Jonathan Cochet (F) / Jean-Marc Gounon (F) / Stéphane Grégoire (F) – 7th / 5th LMP900 | SPARK SCCG 19
• #31 Phillipe Alliot (F) / David Halliday (F) / Carl Rosenblad (S) – DNF / engine | SPARK SCCG 20

2004 Le Mans 24h, Courage C60 – Judd. Four times winner Henri Pescarolo used Courages with Peugeot engines for five seasons. In 2004 he switched to the new 5.0-liter version of the Judd V10 engine. This car was quick, 5th in qualifying, but retired. The sister car #18 finished 4th and first non-Audi.

2005 Le Mans 24h, Courage C60h – Judd. The Courage C60 hybrid is adjusted for the new P1 rules and for the first time, it the fastest car in the field. The Pescarolo cars shared the front row! The name hybrid has nothing to do with the driveline but because the car is a LMP900 that is adjusted to the new P1 regulations. Small problems caused some delay and the #16 car finished 2nd behind the winning Audi. The #17, driven by world champion rally Sébastien Loeb, had to retire.

• 2004 #17 Sébastien Bourdais (F) / Nicolas Minassian (F) / Emmanuel Collard (F) – DNF / engine | SPARK SCCG 21
• 2005 #16 Emmanuel Collard (F) / Jean-Christophe Boullion (F) / Erik Comas (F) – 2nd | SPARK S0137
• 2005 #17 Soheil Ayari (F) / Sébastien Loeb (F) / Eric Hélary (F) – DNF / damage | SPARK S0138

2005 Le Mans 24h, Courage C60h – Judd. Courage Competition entered a C60h themselves, but still with the 4.0-liter Judd engine. It ran in Yokohama Advan colors and used the Japanese tires. It was not as fast as the Pescarolo squad but still qualified 6th, unfortunately it crashed early in the race. Another Courage Competition entry, in a different livery but with similar specs finished 8th.

2006 Le Mans 24h, Courage LC70 – Mugen. Last years car was a hybrid between the old C60 LMP900 and the new P1 regulations, The new P1 LC70 prototype was powered by a Mugen (Honda) V8 engine and was surprisingly quick in qualifying, but only managed 35 laps in the race. The #12 entry didn’t make it to the finish either.

• 2005 #13 Shinji Nakano (J) / Jonathan Cochet (J) / Bruce Jouanny (J) – DNF / crash | SPARK S0128
• 2006 #13 Shinji Nakano (J) / Haruki Kurosawa (J) / Jean-Marc Gounon (F) – DNF / gearbox | EBBRO 43923

2006 Le Mans 24h, Courage LC70 – Judd. Swiss Spirit used the new LC70 but with a Judd engine while the factory cars were powered by Mugen. They however used the same type of gearbox which was the weak point and this car also failed to finish.

• 2006 #5 Harold Primat (CH ) / Marcel Fässler (CH) / Philipp Peter (A) – DNF / gearbox | SPARK S0139

2006 Le Mans 24h, Courage C65 – Mecachrome Ford. Paul Belmondo Racing entered 2 Gulf sponsored Courages this year. They use the Mecachrome built (badged Ford) V8 engine. But none of them finished, the #37 car had a heavy crash because of a blown tyre, the #36’s gearbox failed. The LMP2’s still are very fragile cars.

• #36 Claude-Yves Gosselin (F) / Pierre Ragues (F) / Karim Ojjeh (UAE) – DNF / gearbox | SPARK S0147

2007 Japanese Le Mans Challenge, Courage LC70 – Mugen. The Le Mans Series also found its way to Japan, but there were only a few contenders. One of them is this Team Mugen Courage that finished 2nd twice in the 4 race series.

• #16 Haruki Kurosawa (J) / Shinji Nakano (J) – 2 x 2nd | EBBRO 43826

2008 Le Mans 24h, Courage LC70E – Judd. This Oreca Racing Courage LC70 in E-specifications with 5.5-liter Judd V10 should have been driven by Stephane Ortelli. But he still suffered from the horrific crash he had at Monza in April. Even without Ortelli the team performed excellent: a top 10 qualifying and finishing second non-diesel.

• #5 Soheil Ayari (F) / Loic Duval (F) / Laurent Groppi (F) – 8th | SPARK S1426

Oreca bought Courage and the 2009 Le Mans challenger was named Oreca 01.