For the 1972 world championship, 5-liter engines were banned, to the advantage of the 3-liter engines. This, of course, also happened in Le Mans. The endurance season had opened and had continued under the banner of Ferrari, which, however, despite taking part in the preliminary tests, did not enter any of the 312PB in the 24 Hours. The withdrawal of Ferrari, which had judged the 312PB still too fragile for such a long race, left Matra a fairly free field, which thus caught the first claim at Le Mans, with Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill. Another worls Matra finished second, that of Cévert and Ganley. Some opposition came from the old Porsche 908LH of Joest/Weber/Casoni, who finished an excellent 3rd place, and from the Alfa Romeo. Matra would win again at Le Mans in 1973 and 1974, when he retired from endurance racing.