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Fernando Alonso bows out unbeaten as Le Mans looks to the future | Giles Richards

Spaniard joins an illustrious list but leaves endurance racing as organisers are eager to revitalise and level playing fieldAfter victory on Sunday at the Le Mans 24 hours Fernando Alonso left the Circuit de la Sarthe having joined a very select club. With his win last year at the first attempt, the Spaniard, who is now leaving endurance racing, joins Woolf Barnato and Jean-Pierre Wimille as the only multiple Le Mans winners who remain unbeaten at the race.Alonso leaves on a high, albeit an unexpected one after an unlikely win. Yet for many drivers, among them Britain’s Nick Tandy who won here in 2015, stepping away from Le Mans is almost unthinkable. Alonso may not be there for it but...

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Le Mans 24 Hours – for Steve McQueen, and many others, a race like no other | Giles Richards

The legendary race, which starts on Saturday, captivated the American film star and the event’s obsessive attraction to the faithful shows no sign of waningAmong a vivid collection of childhood memories, Steve McQueen’s son Chad has one that is seared into his consciousness. His father was making the film Le Mans when he invited the 10-year-old to sit on his lap as he drove a Porsche 917 round the legendary circuit. “It burned into my heart and soul forever,” Chad says. “The sound, the smell, the violence of the acceleration. I remember it vividly – the moment that got me hooked on motor racing.”McQueen Sr was already hooked and his Le Mans movie was the product of that obsession. Few...

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