The 66th 24 Hours of Le Mans was held from the 6 to 7 June 1998. Porsche had designed and constructed the GT1 in 1996 to achieve an overall victory, but lost the race in 1996 and 1997 to the TWR Porsche WSC of Reinhold Joest.

1998 saw the Porsche works team come to Le Mans with a further evolutionary stage in the GT1. The 6-cylinder boxer engine now generated 550 horsepower, and the car had internally ventilated carbon brake discs and a completely new aerodynamic bodywork.

Bernd Schneider in the AMG Mercedes achieved the fastest time during qualification training. However, the race saw the Mercedes and BMW drop out before the fourth hour, the former with engine trouble and the latter with wheel bearing problems.

The way was cleared for a Porsche one-two victory, the 16th success of the German brand at Le Mans.

The Porsche works drivers included Laurent Aïello, Allan McNish and Stéphane Ortelli in the victorious team with number 26 and Jörg Müller, Uwe Alzen and Bob Wollek in second position with the number 25 car.