Porsche entered the 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans with two 936/81s after a four-year absence from works prototypes, the cars updated with twin-turbo flat-six power and Indy-derived components. The #11 of Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell took pole and the win, while the sister #12 of Jochen Mass, Vern Schuppan and Hurley Haywood endured a brutal run with clutch failure, an hour lost in the pits and a stricken engine that Schuppan nursed back from the Porsche Curves after radio coaching.
