1990 The first 787 chassis made its competition debut in April 1990, at the second round of the
All Japan Sports Prototype Championship (JSPC) season. For the Inter Challenge
Fuji 1000 km,
Mazdaspeed entered their 787 alongside an older 767B chassis, with
Yoshimi Katayama,
David Kennedy, and Pierre Dieudonné in the new car. After Fuji, the second 787 chassis was completed, and the team departed for Europe to prepare for Le Mans. Tests were performed at the
Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain and
Autódromo do Estoril in Portugal to prepare the car's setups and test its endurance. A total of were completed over the tests. Former Le Mans-winner
Jacky Ickx was hired by Mazdaspeed in order to prepare the two 787s, as well as an older 767B, for the race. Driver
Stefan Johansson joined Kennedy and Dieudonné in the first car, and
Bertrand Gachot,
Volker Weidler and
Johnny Herbert were hired for the second entry. The all-Japanese line-up of Katayama,
Yojiro Terada and Takashi Yorino remained in the 767B. In qualifying the new 787s set the 22nd and 23rd fastest lap times, ahead of the 767B's 34th fastest time. The two 787s ran reliably for much of the race, lasting through the night until problems were encountered in the early hours of Sunday morning. While leading their GTP class, an oil leak on the No. 201 entry for Kennedy, Dieudonné, and Johansson forced the team to retire the car. Two hours later, the No. 202 787 was also retired after an electrical failure and fire. The 767B, the only car remaining in its class, survived until the end of the race and finished 20th. After Le Mans, Mazdaspeed withdrew the remaining 767B from competition. Two 787s were entered for the rest of the JSPC season with the Japanese trio of drivers in one entry and Kennedy and Dieudonné remaining in the other. Returning to Fuji, the 787s earned fifth and tenth-place finishes in a 500 km event, although the fifth-place finisher was later disqualified due to a
fuel cell that was too large. Tenth place was again earned at the
1000 km of Suzuka, although the all-Japanese entry retired after an engine failure. A similar result occurred at
Sugo, except it was the Japanese squad that finished eleventh while the international squad had an engine failure. For the last event of the season, the 1000 km of Fuji, Mazdaspeed entered the two 787s and a 767B, brought out of retirement. It finished sixth: one 787 was seventh and the other retired following a transmission failure. Mazdaspeed's Yoshimi Katayama earned 25th in the drivers' championship, and Mazda was fourth in the constructors' championship.
1991 For the 1991 season, Mazda expanded their efforts with the 787. Two cars were assigned to the JSPC series, while a third car ran the full
Sportscar World Championship season for the first time, with drivers
David Kennedy, Maurizio Sandro Sala, and Pierre Dieudonné assigned to the team. The French
Oreca team were put in charge of the world championship campaign. Oreca and team consultant
Jacky Ickx were able to persuade FISA that the 787s should be allowed to run with less weight than their competitors, leading to FISA allowing the team to run the cars at rather than the standard required for the C2 class. Unlike the JSPC series, FISA had begun to integrate regulations for a new engine formula in the world championship, which required all teams to use 3,500 cc engines for 1991. Cars that met these regulations in 1991 became the top C1 class, while cars with other engines, including the 787, were reclassified as C2. The C2 class cars also retained the fuel consumption formula that group C had been founded on, while C1 cars no longer required it. This meant that Mazda now had to fight for class wins within their new class. In the JSPC, however, Mazda's 787s remained in the GTP class, as the sole competitors in the category. The year started in Japan, with Mazdaspeed entering two older 787s while the new 787Bs were being finalised. Both cars suffered problems and were uncompetitive. Attention then turned to the Suzuka Circuit, where the début race of the world championship season was being run. The first new 787B chassis arrived alongside an older 787. The newer car, with Sandro Sala and Kennedy, out-qualified the older chassis driven by the all Japanese squad by only an eighth of a second, but the 787B was able to outlast several other competitors and finish in sixth overall, fourth in the C2 class, and earning Mazda points in the championship. The 787B was retained in Japan while the European squad turned to Monza with an older 787.
Yojiro Terada and Takashi Yorino earned the new 787B another sixth-place finish at the 1000 km of Fuji, while the European team finished seventh at Monza on the same day. A poor race at Silverstone added no points to Mazda's world championship total before the team concentrated on Le Mans. Following the team's Le Mans victory, Mazdaspeed returned to Fuji once more with a 787B, and improved their season results with a fourth-place finish followed by another sixth at Suzuka. A third 787B was completed by October, and the two cars finished in third and fourth places at the second 1000 km of Fuji. To end the season, the team finished in sixth at
Sportsland SUGO, earning Mazda fourth in the constructors' championship, and Takashi Yorino fourteenth in the drivers' championship. The European squad meanwhile continued to use the older 787, finishing in fifth at the
Nürburgring and seventh at
Magny-Cours. The championship then flew to Mexico City where Mazda finished ninth, before the season ended back in Japan. The two 787Bs of the Japanese squad replaced the older 787, and the two cars finished in ninth and tenth places. Mazdaspeed finished fifth in the teams' championship, and Maurizio Sandro Sala earned fifteenth place in the drivers' championship.
24 Hours of Le Mans The
59th 24 Hours of Le Mans, round four of the
World Sportscar Championship, was the first time the race took place at the entirely new pit complex much to the pleasure of pit crews and drivers, after several years of having to use the notoriously cramped area, which became associated with the film
Le Mans. Mazdaspeed entered three cars and a spare. One of them was a 787 from the previous year, numbered 56, driven by Dieudonné, Yorino and Terada and two brand new 787B's. One of them was driven by
Maurizio Sandro Sala who replaced the newly retired Katayama, Johansson and Kennedy No. 18 (001) and the No. 55 (002) car of Weidler, Herbert and Gachot making its only appearance in its sole race. Unlike the other two cars that were painted in their standard blue stripes on white livery, No. 55 had an outrageous bright orange and green scheme in honour of a main sponsor,
Renown, a Japanese clothing manufacturer that had been supporting the team since 1988 by providing all their clothing for the events. Mazda was not the favourite to win, but the three Mazdas started 19th (No. 55), 23rd (No. 18) and 30th (No. 56), despite being the 12th, 17th and 24th fastest qualifiers respectively. The new 3.5 litre cars were given the first grid positions, moving everyone else back by seven places. On the day before the race, team manager Ohashi decided to drop his usual conservative strategy and instructed the drivers of the No. 55 car to drive as if it were a short sprint race. The decision was made based on the reliability of the cars demonstrated in the
Paul Ricard tests, as well as the car's exceptional fuel economy, which meant that the carefully learned driving techniques intended to preserve the fuel allowance were no longer a critical part of the team's strategy. A number of teams were concerned about the reliability of the new 3.5L engine formula, with Jaguar and Sauber entering their older Group C vehicles; Jaguar entering their XJR12 alongside a sole XJR14 and Sauber not entering their C291 despite being developed for the 1991 season, instead entering the C11. In the early stages of the race, the No. 55 car made its way to third place with the No. 18 car behind it two laps down. The No. 18 had a lower gear ratio setup meaning the car used less fuel but was slower. The No. 55 moved into second place when the
Mercedes-Benz C11 of
Michael Schumacher,
Fritz Kreutzpointner and
Karl Wendlinger spun off and later pitted with a gearbox problem. It soon became obvious that the leading car had slowed down to preserve its fuel allowance and an air of disbelief spread around the Mazda pit as it became obvious with six hours to run that there was a chance of victory. At the 22nd hour, the No. 55 car took the lead after the C11 of
Alain Ferté was forced to pit with mechanical problems. At the last pit-stop, Herbert asked to stay in the car, and went on to take the 787B across the finish line first, completing 362 laps and covering 4,932.2 km (both new records for the recently modified circuit). The two other cars finished sixth (No. 18) and eighth (No. 56). Three
Jaguar XJR-12s and a sole Mercedes filled out positions two through five. Herbert was so dehydrated that he had to be assisted out of the car and taken to the circuit's medical centre. As a result, he was unable to make it to the podium, leaving Weidler and Gachot to take up the celebrations. He later commented in a magazine interview that some "dodgy" spaghetti he ate before his shift was the cause. The winning car ran without a hitch apart from a blown headlamp bulb and a precautionary rear wheel bearing change on the driver's side of the car, when a regular check during a pit-stop showed it to be overheating slightly. == Complete World Sportscar Championship results ==