The opening weekend for the new-for-2026 Legends of Le Mans series got underway in Italy at the fabled Imola circuit in front of a record crowd for the FIA World Endurance Championship. More than 92,000 spectators aGended this first meeIng of the season — which also served as the official prologue of the FIA WEC — enjoying excellent weather condiIons throughout the weekend.
Launched through a collaboraIon between Peter Auto, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and Le Mans Endurance Management, the series, which will support the FIA WEC at Imola, Spa and Bahrain as well as running at July’s Le Mans Classic Legend, sees combined grid of LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes and GTE-spec GT cars in double-header 40-minute sprint races. The paddock welcomed a truly internaIonal collecIve, with many gentlemen drivers of various naIonaliIes represented across the grid.
The grid welcomed some of the most iconic LMP1s of the pre-hybrid eras, no fewer than four of the mighty turbo diesel Peugeot 908s in both V8 and earlier V12 specificaIon took to the track, and Shaun Lynn’s 2011 Sebring 12 Hours winning car was in the mix in both races but couldn’t quite seal the deal. The presence of these historic and classic cars was warmly received by both teams and fans from the modern FIA WEC paddock, who were delighted to see such legendary machines sharing the track.
That’s because ChrisIan Albrecht was on fantasIc form in his glorious Lola Aston MarIn. The V12- powered, Gulf-liveried machine took wins in both races, Saturday’s in a romp away from the start and Sunday’s a\er a baGle with the ORECA-liveried 908.
Lynn would take second place in both races with Stuart Wiltshire’s Peugeot 908 third in class on both days too.
In the mix for a while on Saturday was Swiss driver Marcel Aebi. He had a wild ride in his Judd V10- powered Lola B 06/10 but came home fourth in class. The car was taken over by his Swiss team-mate Michel Frey on Sunday and ran right up at the front before a failure saw the right rear wheel part company. They’ll be back in Spa with a two-car Lola Judd effort.
LMP2 saw a grid covering off much of the variety that blessed the entry lists before the current class era. Francois Perrodo’s sonorous and rapid Porsche RS Spyder dominated both races, the Frenchman ge`ng to the overall podium in Saturday’s race, and finishing fourth overall on Sunday.
Afer plenty of close racing on both days Evgeny Kireev took a brace of second places in his ex-G-Drive Racing ORECA 05 Nissan. Sunday saw a parIcularly good dice with another ex-G-Drive Racing car, the Ligier JS P2 of Pierre Ehret. The German though would suffer a half spin and subsequent reIrement failing to double up his third place effort from Saturday which instead went to Andy Cummings in his ex-KCMG Pescarolo 01 Morgan.
In GTE, Franz Wunderlich’s bright orange ex-TF Sport Aston MarIn Vantage AMR took both wins, but on Sunday morning he had to reel back in an iniIally rampant run from the Lotus Evora GTE of Professor Wolfgang Henseler.
Pierre Fillon (President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest), Marc Ouayoun (CEO of Peter Auto) and Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (ambassador of the Legends of Le Mans serie) expressed their delight at the spectacle on track, praising the successful cohabitaIon between modern WEC machinery and historic endurance racing cars.
Next stop on the calendar is a visit to the fabled Spa-Francorchamps next month, again in support of the FIA WEC, with another pair of races on May 8th and 9th. The Belgian circuit promises a new spectacle of racing baGles, offering a fresh challenge for our Legends on a technical and much-loved track.
Report by Graham Goodwin
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