When a Panoz conquered the world at Le Mans

2026 marks 20 years since Audi won overall for the first time with a diesel prototype in 2006. But that wasn’t the only landmark result that year, as it was the edition of the race in which fan-favorite American constructor Panoz scored its one and only victory, with a Team LNT-run Esperante GT2, in one of the most unlikely victories of the modern era.

The team, run privately by Ginetta Cars Chairman Lawrence Tomlinson, was the first in the GT2 era to beat Porsche in the race, and did so with a car that wasn't known for its drivability, serviceability, or performance. But by adopting a conservative strategy and staying out of trouble, Team LNT was able to capitalize on reliability woes in the class and claim a shock victory on the 10th anniversary of the late Dr. Don Panoz's first entry in the race.

After so many high-profile attempts at overall wins for Panoz, Team LNT came along and delivered as an unlikely customer team – and UK-based agent for the Esperante GT2 program – after Tomlinson opted to walk away from racing with TVR. On reflection, it was a gamble that arguably produced the greatest achievement of Tomlinson and Panoz's motorsport careers.

"In 2004 and 2005 we were running the TVR program, with Synergy Racing – the purple monsters – and we finished Le Mans, the only two TVRs to finish the race," Tomlinson explains. "They had a lot of reliability issues, even though the car was nice. Then in 2005, TVR was sold, so we were looking at opportunities.

"In the end, it was Panoz that we chose. They came roaring by with a fantastic American V8; at a time when we needed a donkey because the TVR engine was so unreliable, it was killing us. We did four engines at Monza alone one year and missed the start of a race.

"It came at a time when Don was looking to find someone to expand the program for the Esperante, and we thought we'd be able to work with the car, so I flew over to see Scott Atherton, who was running Panoz for Don, after the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours. We did a deal, bought a car, spares and another car on lease for a Le Mans Series program and Le Mans. We were both aligned, we got on really well, we both wanted to win. We also became distributors in Europe for a period of time."

At La Sarthe, Tomlinson shared the car with a teen-ager Tom Kimber-Smith and Richard Dean, now co-owner of United Autosports, who was managing director of Ginetta at the time.

"We put Tom in the car because he was young and super quick; he was great, and we were up against the factory Panoz," Tomlinson continues. "There was no Pro/Am or anything. We were 100 percent independent, just with Don's blessing, though we stayed in the same château with them and flew in every day to the circuit – that was nice!"

Dean felt it was an unusual dynamic. "Lawrence made it clear what role he was going to play; he didn't have much interest in driving in the dark or rain," he remembers. "We had Lawrence, who you would now call a Bronze driver, a 17-year-old, and I sort of felt like I was trying to hold it together in between."

The Esperante might not have been the easiest GT2 to drive, but Team LNT made it the fastest over 24 hours. Mark Capilitan/Getty Images

Strategy was key, and as a team, they opted to run a conservative race to give themselves the best chance of a result in their first attempt at a 24-hour race with the car.

"Reliability was everything back then, even though we had Deany and Tom who were quick," Tomlinson says. "We'd set our stall out to run a lap time that meant that we could run one lap more on fuel than the factory car and just keep going. We just thought it'd be great to finish this race. And ultimately the Multimatic-run factory car, with their all-star cast, didn’t. They ran their car out of fuel."

Throughout the race, the LNT Esperante, running on Pirelli rubber, ran relatively smoothly, though it did throw up its fair share of challenges for the team to overcome.

"It was not an easy car to drive," Tomlinson says of the Esperante. "But it had an engine developed by Elan, Don's company, that was amazing. It was just a struggle, a fight to get a lap time out of it, the exact opposite – with the TVR, which had a great chassis but an underpowered engine. But, you can only (work) with what you've got."

Dean recalls all sorts of rattles and vibrations. "I remember starting one stint after Lawrence – he's a lot taller, and normally I've got basically a booster seat in there, and I'm peering over the dash and steering wheel. I get in during the night to do a double or triple stint, and I couldn't see out the front. I am trying to lift myself up, looking out the side windows and I'm on the radio telling them I can barely see.

"Turned out it was the bonnet; everything had broken bracket-wise, and it was lifting down Mulsanne. The faster I went, the less I could see, but we couldn't stop early.

"At the next fuel stop, it was fuel, tires and then someone came along with a big drill, drilled some holes and had to cable tie it down!"

"Deany isn't blessed with height!" Tomlinson notes when asked about the car’s struggles. "So it wasn't as much an issue for me; my problem was that the roof came unbolted, and I'm driving down Mulsanne at 170-180, and I was looking in the rearview mirror, and kept having to adjust it down the straight. I thought the mirror was faulty, but then I got to the chicane, and I could see the ceiling. I realized that the whole rear of the car was lifting up at speed!"

But the team managed to keep the car out of the garage. "We may have had an extra 10-20 seconds at stops to tank tape, cable tie and drill it to keep the roof down. But that’s it!” Dean says.

Meanwhile, a number of GT2 runners hit significant trouble around Team LNT, including the leading Seikel Motorsport/Farnbacher Racing Porsche, which suffered a gear linkage failure in the penultimate hour after a rapid run through most of the race.

"I followed the Porsche we were chasing early in the race and I noticed that Dom Farnbacher was hitting the curbs on the chicanes hard; the car was bouncing. I had a feeling it wouldn't finish," recalls Tomlinson.

Sure enough, it pulled off on the run to Indianapolis corner in the penultimate hour, prompting the team to send a group of mechanics rushing down there to assist. It got going again half an hour later, but the damage was done; it had lost the lead.

"I saw the Porsche at the side of the road, and even with my knowledge in maths I knew I could be leading after passing it twice," Dean says. "But it got going again and it was chasing, two seconds a lap faster. So I stayed in, and they told me to keep pushing, even when the marshals were on the track at the end waving flags. It was tense."

A problematic final pit stop is all the more scary when you find yourselves in the lead near the end. Jeff Bloxham/Getty Images

There was further late drama when the Panoz wouldn't fire at its final pit stop. The starter motor had jammed.

"I could feel the silence of the mechanics. But I was told calmly to repeat the start procedure, and off we went. It was a 5- to 10-second heart-stopping moment," Dean reflects. "I wasn't actually meant to be in the car for a double stint at the end; Lawrence was due to take the flag, but during my two hours towards the end we found ourselves in the lead, having been two laps down."

The Esperante completed its final stint, though, having racked up 321 laps in 24 hours, beating the delayed Seikel/Farnbacher Porsche and Ecurie Ecosse Ferrari F430 GT2 to victory. The scenes on the pit wall were of sheer shock and delight. Though for Dean, who was in the car, it wasn't the sheer jubilation you might expect.

"What I remember is that immediately after the race I got whisked off for a drug test and driven to a medical center where they asked me to pee into a bottle. It was like a medical dungeon really, and I missed all of the celebrations going on.

"I couldn't go after so long in the car! I had to have a doctor shadow me to the podium, and as I walked out to the gantry, he was there watching me in my white coat. I then had to go back after. That's really what I remember!"

Dean, Kimber-Smith and Tomlinson share the winning moment...although Dean had other things on his mind. Elliot Patching/Getty Images

Regardless, it was a huge result for Team LNT, and of course for Don Panoz, who is sorely missed to this day by the sports car racing community for his passion and service to the sport.

"There are very few characters like Don, who come into the sport from another area of business, invest as much time and energy and money as he did, and fall in love with it all," Dean says in tribute. "He was totally passionate, sometimes a bit bonkers, and Lawrence and I still joke that he would come to us with a packet of (cigarettes) and smoke through them while drawing up his latest idea or design on a napkin.

"An example of the character he was came after the race. He rang us and said: 'I want you to get the entire crew together, everyone that was involved.' I asked when; he said 'Wednesday.' I said, 'Where?' He said, 'It would help if it was close to an airport.'

"So we spoke to Leeds Bradford Airport, and asked them if we could bring the team over, with a truck and race car because someone wants to fly in from America and speak to us for half an hour. They let us use a hangar, and we drove there, all in uniform, and he landed in his private plane and got out like the President. I went to greet him like a dignitary.

"He said, 'I need your help, Richard: I don't want to be embarrassed because I don't remember everybody's name in the team, but I want to give them all something.'

"So we lined everyone up, and he wanted to shake everyone's hand and give them a gift, a gold medallion, personally. And I remember going down the line and realizing I'd forgotten people's real names, because you use nicknames sometimes in this.

"I'd lined them up in size order, for fun, and the first person he came to was the truckie called "Chunky" and I'm thinking, 'What the hell is his actual name?'

"So I'm like: 'Don, this is Chunky' and I'm thinking, 'Please don't ask me why they call him Chunky,' because he looked just like Don, but from Bolton! And he's going: 'Chuckie?' 'No, Chunky.' 'Charlie?' 'Chunky!' Then we get down the line, and I'm saying: 'This is Stretch.' 'Why is he called Stretch?'

"He did that, got back in his plane and took off!"

Tomlinson also looks back on that result, and his relationship with Don, with real warmth.

"Richard and I have been best of friends, so it was great to do that with him. The problem was that we went away thinking it wasn't difficult, then went back in 2007 and realized that year that it was really quite difficult!

"We've obviously lost Don, which is terribly sad. But he was over the moon; he'd spent so much money in 10 years to race at the front and win, then a little Yorkshire team comes along on the 10th anniversary and wins. He'd been given an award by the ACO that week too, so it was a real honor for us to add to that.

"I think he had one of the best weekends of his life. God bless him."