2002

If you wanted to make someone NOT like Le Mans, make them watch this race. For the third year in a row, Audi rolled over everyone from the start. None of the other LMP1 teams ever stood a chance.

In the LMP675 class, the MG-Lola cars looked to be strong contenders. The class had huge attrition, and everyone that was running by daybreak backed off into 'survival' pace. The eventual podium finishers were well behind the GT Classes.

GT Classes - Ferrari Returns

The pre-race excitement in the GT classes centered around the return of Ferrari. In GTS a 550 Maranello was developed by Prodrive, who were well respected in the World Rally Chhampionship. This car was showed some speed, but didn't last. Corvette were running 1st and 2nd all through the night.

The GT class had factory-developed racing versions of the 360 Modena, but again these cars were plagued with speed and reliability issues. Porsche was unbeatable and deserved to be so, as they had meticulously refined their 911 GT3-RS since its debut in 1999.

The class-winning Racer's Group Porsche was not a normal Minichamps catalog release, but a US-only issue with a low production number. These units go for high prices at auction.

ALMS Pride

An interesting observation was that three of the four classes were won by teams that were regular competitors in the American Le Mans Series.

Le Mans 2002
Place	Car Sponsor	Car # Class	Model	Ref. #	Image
1	Audi R8 Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	1 LMP 900	Minichamps	400 021301
2	Audi R8 Johnny Herbert Christian Pescatori Rinaldo Capello	2 LMP 900	Minichamps	400 021302
3	Audi R8 Marco Werner Michael Krumm Philipp Peter	3 LMP 900	Minichamps	400 021303
4	Bentley EXP Speed 8 Andy Wallace Eric van de Poele Butch Leitzinger	8 LM GTP	Minichamps	436 021308
5	Dallara SP1 Olivier Beretta Érik Comas Pedro Lamy	15 LMP 900	Spark	S0159
6	Dallara SP1 Stéphane Sarrazin Franck Montagny Nicolas Minassian	14 LMP 900	Spark	S0159
7	Audi R8 Hiroki Katoh Yannick Dalmas Seiji Ara	5 LMP 900	Minichamps	400 021205
8	Dome S101	16
9	Cadillac Northstar LMP02	6 LMP 900	Spark	SCCN07
10	Courage C60	17 LMP 900	Spark
11	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell Oliver Gavin	63 GTS	Minichamps	400 021463
12	Cadillac Northstar LMP02	7 LMP 900	Spark	SCCN08
13	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins Franck Fréon	64 GTS	Minichamps	400 021464
14	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	52 GTS	Minichamps	400 021452
15	Courage C60	13 LMP 900	Spark	SCCG14
16	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	81 GT	Minichamps (North America Special)	403 026981
17	Porsche 911 GT3-RS Romain Dumas Sascha Maassen Jörg Bergmeister	80 GT	Minichamps	400 026980
18	Chrysler Viper GTS-R Christophe Bouchut Patrice Goueslard Vincent Vosse	50 GTS	Minichamps	400 021450
			Ixo	LMM039
19	Reynard 2KQ-LM	29	Spark
20	WR LM2001	25
21	Porsche 911 GT3-RS Atsushi Yogo Akira Iida Kazuyuki Nishizawa	77 GT	Minichamps	400 026977
22	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	82
23	Saleen S7-R	68
24	Porsche 911 GT3-RS Luc Alphand Christian Lavieille Olivier Thévenin	72 GT	Minichamps	400 026972
25	Chrysler Viper GTS-R Jean-Luc Chéreau Carl Rosenblad Jean-Claude Lagniez	51 GTS	Ixo	LMM040
26	Saleen S7-R	66
N/C	Lola B98/10	10
DNF	Panoz LMP07	19
DNF	Panoz LMP01 Evo Bill Auberlen David Donohue Gunnar Jeannette	12 LMP 900	Ixo	LMM042
DNF	MG-Lola EX257	27	Spark
DNF	Riley & Scott	4	Spark	SCRS11
DNF	Dome	9
DNF	Morgan Aero 8R	73	Spark
DNF	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello Rickard Rydell Alain Menu Tomáš Enge	58 GTS	Red Line	RL004
DNF	Porsche 911 GT3-RS Leo Hindery, Jr. Peter Baron Anthony Kester	75 GT	Minichamps	400 026975
DNF	Courage C60	18
DNF	Spyker C8 Double- 12R	85
DNF	MG-Lola EX257	26	Spark
DNF	Reynard 2KQ-LM	28	Spark
DNF	Ferrari 360 Modena GT Guillaume Gomez Ryo Fukuda Laurent Cazenave	74 GT	Red Line	RL003
DNF	MG-Lola EX257	30	Spark
DNF	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S 'Leader' Jérôme Policand Marc Duez Perry McCarthy ('Michel Vaillant' movie villain car)	22 LMP 900	Minichamps	400 028822
DNF	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	53
DNF	Panoz LMP01 Evo David Brabham Jan Magnussen Bryan Herta	11 LMP 900	Ixo	LMM041
DNF	Ferrari 360 Modena GT Steve Earle Chris MacAllister Gary Schultheis	71 GT	Red Line	RL002
DNF	Saleen S7-R	67
DNF	Porsche 911 GT3- RS	78
DNF	Ascari KZR-1	21
DNF	Ferrari 360 Modena GT Cort Wagner Sam Hancock Martin Short	70 GT	Red Line	RL001
DNF	Autoexe (WR) LMP-02	24