a very distant 29 laps (386 km) further back, was the NART Ferrari. The Piper Ferrari of Weir/Craft had struggled on, but was never under threat despite finishing fourth with only second and fifth gears left. Fifth was the NART Ferrari Daytona after a reliable run, which also won the Index of Thermal Efficiency. Half of the twelve classified finishers were Porsche 911s. All of them had been delayed by various mechanical issues. Winner of the GT category was the 2.4-litre ASA Cachia car of Couroul/Anselme (battling an oil-leak) taking sixth in the last hour and finishing barely 40 metres ahead of the André Wicky Porsche 907 of Walter Brun/Peter Mattli. With all the 3-litre cars retiring the Wicky Porsche 907 was the sole Prototype finisher. Tenth was the Kremer-prepared Porsche of Nicolas Koob. They had been leading the category after the halfway mark until delayed for an hour in the morning to replace the gearbox. Last classified finisher was that of Vestey/Bond, managed by Adrian Hamilton and Stuart Rolt, sons of the 1953 race winners. The JWA team had a tragic end to 1971. Less than a month later, after winning the next round at Österreichring, Pedro Rodriguez was killed driving a Ferrari 512 at Germany's Norisring in a non-championship sports car race. Then in October Jo Siffert died at the World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch when his BRM crashed, rolled and caught fire with him trapped underneath. At the 2018 race, marking Porsche's 70th anniversary the European Porsche GT team revived the "Pink Pig" colour-scheme for one of its entries. This race marked an end of an era, with the FIA regulations changing in 1972 such that Group 5 cars were limited to a maximum engine capacity of 3 litres and Group 6 was discontinued. It was the last time the Index of Performance prize was awarded. It was also the last run on a circuit layout that had been essentially unchanged for 39 years, with a new part of the track opened in the next year that bypassed the dangerous and fast Maison Blanche stretch. Official results Finishers Results taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO Class Winners are in Bold text. 'Note *: Not Classified because insufficient distance covered. Did Not Finish Did Not Start Class Winners Note: setting a new class distance record. Index of Thermal Efficiency Index of Performance