also won the Biennial Cup and romped home in their S750 class fully 13 laps ahead of the closest Renault. Jowett also won its class, the S1500, for the third successive year, by outlasting the much faster but more fragile opposition. The Lancias barely missed a beat getting a successive class win. The lead car of Bonetto / Anselmi was delayed around lunchtime, giving the lead to the sister car which it held to the end, with the team finishing 6th and 8th overall, well ahead (>20 laps) of the surviving Frazer-Nash rival in 10th which had been gingerly lapping for the last 3 hours with a loose wheel-mounting on the front right. Porsche repeated its S1100 class victory from the previous year, and by the same drivers as 1951: Paris Porsche agent, ‘Toto’ Veuillet and Edmond Mouche. The last finisher in the race was a little Renault 4CV driven by Le Mans debutante, Jean Rédélé who, at 30 years old, was France's youngest Renault dealer. After a short racing career he would go on to found a significant new car company with Renault rear-mounted engines: Alpine. So a very strong, varied field had promised a competitive race and the speed and excitement with the dramatic last-hour twist delivered, firmly cementing Le Mans’ place as the most important Sports Car race on the motorsport calendar. Mercedes-Benz went on to win at the Nürburgring and a 1-2-3 in the Carrera Panamericana. Gordini had its biggest success two weeks after Le Mans in Formula 2, when Jean Behra beat the Ferrari 500s in the final Grand Prix de la Marne Official results Did Not Finish 18th Rudge-Whitworth Biennial Cup (1951/1952) Statistics Fastest Lap in practice – Hermann Lang, #21 Mercedes-Benz W194 – 4m 40.0s; 173.40 kp/h (107.7 mph) Fastest Lap – Alberto Ascari, #62 Ferrari 250 S– 4m 40.5s; 173.16 kp/h (107.6 mph) Distance – 3733.8 km (2320.2 miles) Winner's Average Speed – 155.58 km/h (96.7 mph) Attendance – est. 400 000 (start), 200 000 during the race Trophy Winners 18th Rudge-Whitworth Biennial Cup – #60 Pierre Hérnard / Eugène Dussous Index of Performance – #60 Pierre Hérnard / Eugène Dussous Coupe des Dames - Mme Denise Bouillin, as there were no female drivers this year Citations References Spurring, Quentin (2011) Le Mans 1949-59 Sherborne, Dorset: Evro Publishing Clarke, R.M. - editor (1997) Le Mans 'The Jaguar Years 1949-1957' Cobham, Surrey: Brooklands