Epilogue
They said it on a banner at Le Mans. The standings say how close it really was.
The 1986 Drivers' Championship ended in a tie broken only by wins: Derek Warwick, third on 81 points, behind works Porsche pairing Stuck and Bell on 82. In the Teams' table Silk Cut Jaguar tied Rothmans Porsche on 47, separated from the title by arithmetic. For a car in its first full season of World Championship racing — run by a team contracted for three — it exceeded its own expectations.
| # | Drivers' Championship 1986 | Car | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek Bell | Porsche | 82 |
| 2 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | Porsche | 82 |
| 3 | Derek Warwick | Jaguar | 81 |
| 4 | Frank Jelinski | Porsche | 74 |
| 5 | Eddie Cheever | Jaguar | 61 |
| # | Teams' Championship 1986 | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brun Porsche | 52 |
| 2 | Joest Porsche | 48 |
| 3= | Silk Cut Jaguar / Rothmans Porsche | 47 |
| 5 | Fitzpatrick Porsche | 30 |
| 6 | Kouros Sauber-Mercedes | 29 |
The Silk Cut Jaguar team would complete only one of its three contracted seasons. But what could already be reported was historic — the name Jaguar had returned to Le Mans-type racing, and in May 1986 a V12 Jaguar-engined car had beaten Porsche in a World Championship 1000 km race at Silverstone.
Two years later, at Le Mans, an XJR-9 finished the job. From a Pocono test in 1984, through Southgate's understeering prototype with taped doors, to Stowe Corner in May 1986 — and the banner the fans carried home.
