Jaguar

Jaguar shaped the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with seven outright victories spread across two glorious eras, thirty years apart. The first belongs to the 1950s, when the Coventry marque established itself as the great rival to Ferrari and Mercedes. The C-Type won in 1951 and again in 1953 — the year Jaguar brilliantly exploited its disc brakes, a first at La Sarthe. Then came the mythical D-Type, with its unforgettable shark fin, victorious three years running: in 1955 with the works team, in the edition darkened by the grandstand disaster, then in 1956 and 1957 with the Scottish privateers of Ecurie Ecosse, bringing the marque's tally to five wins in seven editions. Jaguar then stepped away from the fight for victory for almost thirty years. The comeback, orchestrated in the 1980s with Tom Walkinshaw Racing and the purple Silk Cut livery, lived up to the legend. In 1988, the XJR-9 LM of Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace broke the stranglehold of the Porsche 956s and 962s at the end of one of the most intense duels the race has ever seen. In 1990, the XJR-12 delivered the British marque's seventh and final outright victory, sealing one of motorsport's finest resurrections. Jaguar has since drifted away from La Sarthe, despite a GT1 foray in the early 2010s, steering its racing programme towards Formula E instead. Absent from the Hypercar grid in 2026, the leaping cat is regularly mentioned among the candidates for an endurance return, though no official announcement has been made. Its Le Mans legacy, meanwhile, stands untouched: seven victories, two dynasties, and some of the most beautiful racing cars ever to take the start at La Sarthe. Meanwhile the marque nurtures that memory through its heritage division, and the D-Types and XJRs remain among the most celebrated cars in the historic paddocks of the Sarthe.

• Country : GBR
• Founded : 1922
• Le Mans wins : 7
• First win : 1951
• Last win : 1990