damage from the crash earlier, but both had been delayed by engine issues. They were just finishing repairs when they were declared hors course The rain became a heavy thunderstorm and many drivers chose to pull over to wait out the worst of the squalls, which eventually abated around 5.30am as dawn arrived. Morning Through the morning Chassagne and Laly were able to maintain their 4-lap lead. The morning was hard on the new Fasto team. First their leading car, that had survived the White House crash and been running as high as third through the night was put out with magneto failure just after dawn. The second car only managed three further laps before a valve spring broke and their final car had a similar failure at midday. But soon after midday the Ariès' pit-stop had a fault with its ignition system. Twenty-five minutes were lost and by the time they were going again the Bentley was only four minutes (half-a lap) behind. Knowing they were facing a crippled car, Laly and Chassagne put in fast laps to rebuild his lead. Finish and post-race Then at 2.30pm, after its last pit stop and on its 123rd lap the Ariès' distributor system failed completely, stranding Chassagne out on the circuit. Davis and Benjafield immediately eased off to nursing the injured Bentley home. With a quarter-hour to go, Benjafield pulled in to swap with Davis to give him the honour of taking the finishing-flag. They finished 20 laps ahead of the two Salmsons of de Victor/Hasley and Casse/Rousseau. What looked on paper as a dominant victory had been anything but. There were only eight finishers in this race of attrition. Without Davis' efforts, Salmson could have celebrated a most unlikely overall victory for the little 1.1-litre cars, which would easily be the smallest-engined cars to have won Le Mans. As it was they did secure the big prizes, with Casse and Rousseau winning the Biennial Cup, and their teammates the Index of Performance for the interim-year of the next Biennial Cup. Fourth was the SCAP of Desvaux and Vallon, passing their target by six laps while their teammates, although running at the end, missed their target by six laps and were not classified. Seventh and last classified finisher was the Tracta of Jean-Albert Grégoire, with arguably the most heroic drive of the race, having met its target distance by four laps.