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When the #63 Sauber Mercedes C9 of Jochen Mass, Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens crossed the finish line to win the 1989 Le Mans 24 Hours, it did so at a crawl. But rather than due to any mechanical maladies, such as those that forced Al Holbert's factory Porsche 956 to come to a shuddering halt yards after taking the flag in 1983 with its engine seized, there was an altogether different reason for Mass slowing almost to a stop.
Throngs of crowds had gathered on the pit straight to greet the flotilla of Silver Arrows, Mass followed by the sister #61 of Mauro Baldi, Kenny Acheson and Gianfranco Brancatelli that had finished second and fifth-placed #62 of Jean-Louis Schlesser, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Alain Cudini.
The 1-2 emulated the result of the 1952 race - three years before the 1955 tragedy that prompted Mercedes' 33-year exile from motorsport - and was to prove the first and last victory for long-time Le Mans entrant Peter Sauber, who had enticed Mercedes back with an engine deal that became a full works effort in 1988.
