1998 24 Hours of Le Mans

Automatic entry to the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans was granted to teams that had performed well in the previous year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 1997 season of the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans Autumn Cup.[2] Entries with a blue background were granted entries, but did not accept their invitations.

Reason entered	LMP1	GT1	GT2
1st in 24 Hours of Le Mans	Joest Racing GmbH1	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	Elf Haberthur Racing
1st in Le Mans Autumn Cup	Courage Compétition	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	Société Chereau
1st in 1997 FIA GT Championship		AMG-Mercedes	Viper Team Oreca

A total of 63 entries, including those already automatically qualified, were presented for scrutineering on Saturday, May 2. 61 cars passed the scrutineering checks, but two entries - the #37 Newcastle United Lister Storm and the #59 Pilbeam Racing Designs Lotus Esprit, were denied on technical grounds. With no time to effect the necessary changes both entries would be unable to take part in pre-qualifying for the race.

Pre-qualifying for the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans took place on Sunday, May 3. The entries were divided into two groups of qualifiers where the slowest entries in each class would be eliminated and thus not qualify for the race. A total of 49 starting slots were available for the entered cars, including those already automatically pre-qualified, and were divided on a session- and class-basis. The pre-qualifying results were as follows:

Morning session (7:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.)

It was an expectedly tight session for the GT1 cars, with 7 strong entries competing for 5 slots on the grid. In the end it was the unfortunate Larbre and Zakspeed entries that were out of luck despite trying hard with in the case of number 38 spectacular moments. Slowest of all in GT1 was the GTC McLaren with the Mercedes (which had a stop on the Mulsanne at 12:30, reason unknown) splitting the two non pre-qualifiers.

In LMP1 8 entries battled for 6 slots on the grid, with the Moretti Ferrari setting the fastest time. The non-qualifiers were the number 17 Kremer K8 (4:02) and the WR (3:56) which suffered a spin into the gravel trap at the Dunlop curve early in the session. Slowest of the LMP1 cars was the already-qualified Courage #24.

The GT2 group consisted of 11 entries competing for 8 slots. The lone LMP2 entry to the race, the #22 Debora, had been grouped into this category in the absence of any other competition. The predicted Oreca Viper benefit, 4.3 seconds clear of the fastest 911 GT2. The non-qualifiers were two 911 GT2's and the Helem PRV V6.

Pos	No.	Team	Car	Drivers	Class	Time	Gap
1	25	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1-98	Jörg Müller Uwe Alzen Pierre-Henri Raphanel	LMGT1	3:38.909
2	30	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R390 GT1	John Nielsen Franck Lagorce	LMGT1	3:40.926	+2.007
3	32	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R390 GT1	Aguri Suzuki Kazuyoshi Hoshino	LMGT1	3:40.927	+2.008
4	27	Toyota Motorsport	Toyota GT-One	Ukyo Katayama Ralf Kelleners	LMGT1	3:41.301	+2.382
5	45	Panoz Motor Sports	Panoz GTR-1	David Brabham Andy Wallace	LMGT1	3:41.667	+2.748
6	3	Moretti Racing Inc.	Ferrari 333 SP	Gianpiero Moretti Mauro Baldi Didier Theys	LMP1	3:43.735	+4.816
7	38	Zakspeed	Porsche 911 GT1-98	Michael Bartels Armin Hahne	LMGT1	3:43.911	+4.992
8	1	Team BMW Motorsport	BMW V12 LM	Steve Soper Tom Kristensen	LMP1	3:44.528	+5.609
9	7	Porsche AG	Porsche LMP1-98	Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson David Murry	LMP1	3:44.720	+5.801
10	36	AMG-Mercedes	Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM	Jean-Marc Gounon Ricardo Zonta Christophe Bouchut	LMGT1	3.46.020	+7.101
11	14	Courage Compétition	Courage C51	Fredrik Ekblom Patrice Gay	LMP1	3:47.397	+8.478
12	15	La Filière	Courage C36	Henri Pescarolo Olivier Grouillard Emmanuel Clérico	LMP1	3.49.061	+10.142
13	48	Larbre Compétition	Porsche 911 GT1	Jean-Pierre Jarier Patrice Goueslard Robin Donovan	LMGT1	3:49.225	+10.306
14	10	Pilot Racing	Ferrari 333 SP	Michel Ferté	LMP1	3:50.770	+10.851
15	40	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	Steve O'Rourke Tim Sugden	LMGT1	3:51.842	+12.923
16	19	Gerard Welter	WR LMP 98	Jean-Bernard Bouvet Xavier Pompidou Marc Rostan	LMP1	3:56.582	+17.663
17	52	Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Olivier Beretta Karl Wendlinger Luca Drudi	LMGT2/LMP2	4:01.921	+23.002
18	17	Kremer Racing	Kremer K8 Spyder	Tomás Saldaña Prince Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón Enrico Bertaggia	LMP1	4:02.163	+23.244
19	24	Courage Compétition	Courage C41	Yojiro Terada Franck Fréon	LMP1	4:03.371	+24.452
20	73	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Toni Seiler Peter Kitchak Angelo Zadra	LMGT2/LMP2	4:06.201	+25.282
21	67	Elf Haberthur Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Michel Neugarten David Smadja	LMGT2/LMP2	4:06.215	+27.296
22	55	Chamberlain Engineering	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Ni Amorim Gonçalo Gomes Hans Hugenholtz	LMGT2/LMP2	4:06.608	+27.689
23	71	Estoril Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Michel Maisonneuve Manuel Monteiro Michel Monteiro	LMGT2/LMP2	4:08.246	+29.327
24	74	Cirtek Motorsport	Saleen Mustang SR	Rob Schirle Michel Ligonnet	LMGT2/LMP2	4:08.998	+30.079
25	22	Didier Bonnet	Debora LMP296	Lionel Robert	LMGT2/LMP2	4:09.059	+30.140
26	69	Michel Nourry	Porsche 911 GT2	Michel Nourry Thierry Perrier Michel Quiniou	LMGT2/LMP2	4:10.716	+31.797
27	65	Roock Racing Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Andy Pilgrim André Ahrlé Robert Nearn	LMGT2/LMP2	4:14.452	+35.533
28	58	RJ Racing	Helem PRV V6	Patrick Gonin Benjamin Roy	LMGT2/LMP2	4:21.604	+42.685
29	63	Gerard MacQuillan	Porsche 911 GT2	Thomas Erdos Gerard MacQuillan	LMGT2/LMP2	4:45.350	+1:06.431

Note: Pink background denotes non-qualifiers, green background denotes entries automatically pre-qualified.

Afternoon session (2:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)

The afternoon session saw the final 9 GT1 entries competing for the remaining 7 slots on the grid. Fastest overall and in GT1 was the number 26 Porsche in the hands of Allan McNish after a titanic battle with Martin Brundle's Toyota in the closing hour, the difference ending up at only 0.09 seconds. The two who go no further in GT1 for this session were Hybrid Panoz and the second Zakspeed Porsche (meaning neither Zakspeed entry made it through to the race). The two Nissans (one TWR, one Nova) and the 'conventional' Panoz made it comfortably, despite the #33 Nova Nissan spinning into a gravel trap after only 10 minutes of the session, later resuming with the spare rear bodywork from one of the TWR cars.

In LMP1 there were 9 entries competing for 7 slots. Again a Ferrari was fastest, as the JB Ferrari beat the factory BMW and Porsche entries with 0.4 and 2.7 seconds respectively. The second Kremer K8 scraped home ahead of the Konrad K8 by 0.08 seconds and thus made the race. The other prototype not to progress was the other WR which never managed to set a competitive laptime.

GT2 was again dominated by the Oreca Vipers. 8 of the 10 entries would make it through, with the two non-qualifiers being the second Cirtek Mustang and the third Roock Racing 911 GT2.

Pos	No.	Team	Car	Drivers	Class	Time	Gap
1	26	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1-98	Yannick Dalmas Allan McNish Stéphane Ortelli	LMGT1	3:37.689
2	28	Toyota Motorsport	Toyota GT-One	Martin Brundle Emmanuel Collard	LMGT1	3:37.696	+0.007
3	35	AMG-Mercedes	Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM	Bernd Schneider Mark Webber Klaus Ludwig	LMGT1	3:38.057	+0.368
4	29	Toyota Motorsport	Toyota GT-One	Thierry Boutsen Eric Hélary	LMGT1	3:39.649	+1.960
5	31	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R390 GT1	Jan Lammers Érik Comas Andrea Montermini	LMGT1	3:40.778	+3.116
6	5	Jabouille-Boursche	Ferrari 333 SP	Vincenzo Sospiri Jean-Christophe Boullion Jérôme Policand	LMP1	3:41.039	+3.350
7	2	Team BMW Motorsport	BMW V12 LM	Pierluigi Martini Johnny Cecotto	LMP1	3:41.412	+3.732
8	44	Panoz Motor Sports	Panoz GTR-1	David Brabham Eric Bernard	LMGT1	3:42.347	+4.658
9	13	Courage Compétition	Courage C51	Didier Cottaz Jean-Philippe Belloc	LMP1	3:43.588	+5.899
10	33	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R390 GT1	Satoshi Motoyama Mauro Martini	LMGT1	3:43.739	+6.050
11	8	Porsche AG	Porsche LMP1-98	Pierre-Henri Raphanel Yannick Dalmas Bob Wollek	LMP1	3:43.786	+6.097
12	12	Doyle-Risi Racing	Ferrari 333 SP	Wayne Taylor Eric van de Poele	LMP1	3:44.442	+6.753
13	39	Zakspeed	Porsche 911 GT1-98	Alexander Grau Jean-Denis Delétraz Fabien Giroix	LMGT1	3:44.794	+7.105
14	41	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	Dr. Thomas Bscher Frank Biela Rinaldo Capello	LMGT1	3:47.902	+10.213
15	21	Philippe Gache	Riley & Scott Mk III	Philippe Gache Anthony Beltoise	LMP1	3:51.818	+14.129
16	46	Panoz Motor Sports	Panoz GTR-1 Hybrid	James Weaver Perry McCarthy	LMGT1	3:54.199	+16.510
17	16	Kremer Racing	Kremer K8 Spyder	Rocky Agusta Almo Coppelli	LMP1	3:54.617	+16.928
18	18	Konrad Motorsport	Kremer K8 Spyder	Franz Konrad	LMP1	3:54.625	+16.936
19	51	Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Olivier Beretta Dominique Dupuy Pedro Lamy	LMGT2	4:00.120	+22.431
20	53	Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Justin Bell Dominique Dupuy Pedro Lamy	LMGT2	4:00.665	+22.976
21	72	Larbre Compétition	Porsche 911 GT2	Patrice Goueslard Patrick Bourdais Jean-Luc Chéreau	LMGT2	4:03.380	+25.691
22	64	Roock Racing Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Bruno Eichmann Claudia Hürtgen	LMGT2	4:03.925	+26.236
23	70	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Larry Schumacher Nick Ham Martin Stretton	LMGT2	4:04.121	+26.432
24	56	Chamberlain Engineering	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Gary Ayles Matt Turner Hans Hugenholtz	LMGT2	4:04.618	+26.929
25	62	CJ Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	John Morton John Graham Harald Grohs	LMGT2	4:06.814	+29.125
26	61	Krauss Race Sports International	Porsche 911 GT2	Bernhard Müller Michael Trunk Ernst Palmberger	LMGT2	4:09.016	+31.327
27	74	Cirtek Motorsport	Saleen Mustang SR	Rob Schirle Michel Ligonnet	LMGT2/LMP2	4:09.895	+32.206
28	68	Elf Haberthur Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Éric Graham Hervé Poulain Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière	LMGT2	4:23.924	+46.235
29	20	JL Sonnier	WR LMP 98	Pierre Bruneau Dominique Lacaud	LMP1	4:48.010	+1:10.321
30	66	Roock Racing Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	John Robinson Hugh Price Sascha Maassen	LMGT2	5:00.367	+1:22.678

Note: Pink background denotes non-qualifiers, green background denotes entries automatically pre-qualified.

The entries which failed to pre-qualify were placed on a reserve list, in case an entry from the list of 48 withdrew prior to the event. These entries were allowed to join the race entry list based on the fastest pre-qualifying times from the same group and class as the withdrawn entry.

Before the race, two LMGT2 entries from the first pre-qualifying session were withdrawn. First to be withdrawn was the lone Cirtek Mustang which had qualified, which promoted the #65 Roock Racing 911 GT2 into the race.[3] Secondly Viper Team Oreca, which had a total of four Vipers qualified for the race including their automatic entry, withdrew Viper #52. This promoted the #58 RJ Racing Helem into the race.

Class leaders are in bold.[5]