Le Mans legend
LE MANS fans will hear the Mazda 787B’s rotary engine again as the 1991 winner returns for a demonstration run at Circuit de la Sarthe.
Photographs courtesy of Mazda
LE MANS fans will hear the Mazda 787B’s rotary engine again as the 1991 winner returns for a demonstration run at Circuit de la Sarthe.
Photographs courtesy of Mazda
ROTARY power helped the Mazda 787B secure the 1991 Le Mans victory, a milestone the brand will mark at Le Mans Classic 2026.
Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) will bring the 787B back to the Circuit de la Sarthe in France for Le Mans Classic 2026, as the brand marks 35 years since its overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The event will run from 2 to 5 July 2026, local time. Le Mans Classic is one of the world’s biggest gatherings for historic endurance racing cars.
It brings back machines that once competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and gives fans another look at cars tied closely to the race’s long history.
Mazda said the 787B will join a special parade session with support from Spark, a model car brand. The car will also have a standalone demonstration run.
Yojiro Terada, long linked with Mazda’s Le Mans campaigns, will drive the 787B during the event. Pierre Fillon, president of Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), will also take the wheel.
Fillon said driving the 787B had long been a dream for him.
The 787B still holds a place that no other race car has matched. It remains the only rotary-powered car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall.
Its 1991 victory also made Mazda the first Japanese manufacturer to win the endurance race.
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Mazda’s rotary story began much earlier. The company launched the Cosmo Sport in 1967 and later used rotary engines in a range of road and race cars.
The 787B became the most famous of them because of what it did at Le Mans and because of its sound, which remains familiar to many motorsport fans.
The demonstration run will bring that sound back to the Circuit de la Sarthe. Mazda said the appearance will also point to the continued development of the rotary engine, which will reach its 60th anniversary in 2027.
The 787B has appeared in demonstration runs at different events over the years, including previous outings at Le Mans.
Its return in 2026 gives fans another chance to see the car at the place where it secured Mazda’s biggest racing victory.
Mazda said it will continue to share the 787B’s story with younger fans and keep the car’s place in its motorsport history alive.
