The Peugeot rookies who conquered Le Mans but missed out on F1

A piece of Le Mans history was made when the #3 Peugeot claimed victory at the 24 Hours in 1993. Two thirds of its driver line-up were event debutants, each with only a single race in the car under their belts. That rookie pairs had won just twice in the event’s 70-year history suggested that they weren’t the favourites to conquer the world’s biggest endurance race, a point underlined by the fact that their car’s third driver, while a veteran of two Le Mans starts, had never before raced the 905 Evo 1 Bis.

But on the final hurrah for Group C cars at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Christophe Bouchut and Eric Helary were joined atop the podium come Sunday afternoon by Geoff Brabham, and a pair of first-timers netted Le Mans glory for the first time in more than 40 years. The era-concluding 24 Hours had spawned two new French stars, who between them would rack up a further 19 (Bouchut) and 10 (Helary) appearances at the great race and come within touching distance of the grand prix grid.