Audi Wins at Petit Le Mans
Dindo Capelo and Allan McNish have scored the first Audi overall American Le Mans Series win since the Saint Petersburg Grand Prix
at the begining of the 2007 season. The Audi R10 only won by less than one second. It was the closest finish in the history of Petit Le Mans.
Team Oreca takes over Courage Competition
When Hugues de CHAUNAC announced earlier this year that Team Oreca has
big future plans, including entering the LMP1 class and build its own
car to race the 24 Heures du Mans, he couldn't be more serious. In order
to secure the resources and the know-how required to succeed with such
an ambitious project, Oreca has decided to take over the legendary Courage
Competition team. Courage Competition is a myth in Le Mans racing,
as is Yves Courage, its founder. Yves Courage has more then 25 years of
experience building Le Mans prototypes, and this is just the kind of expertise
Oreca was looking for.
Dutch Equipe Verschuur to bring Porsche RS Spyders to Europe
Dutch Equipe Verschuur has reach an agreement with the Le Mans Series sanctioning body to run a Porsche RS Spyder in next year's Le Mans Series. However, in order for its entry to be accepted, the Dutch team had to accept to only use one professional driver in the 2008 series, with the second position being filled by an amateur driver. LMS boss Patrick Peter imposed this restriction because of concerns of smaller LM P2 team being scared away from the series. Indeed, if this year's top American Le Mans Series comes to Europe, many small LM P2 privateer teams might think they'd be left with no chance to win and therefore simply abandon the series.
Penske's Porsche RS Spyders win again
Penske have done it again, their Porsche RS Spyders have arrived first and second in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner have managed to get their Audi R10 TDI in third place overall, with Dindo Capello and Allan McNish arriving fifth. The fourth place was secured by Luiz diaz and Adrian Fernandez who confirms the good result he obtained at this year's 24 Heures du Mans. Even though they didn't win, the Audi's obtained a good result considering the shape and lenght of the Mid-Ohio circuit.
The first place in GT1 went to Corvette, of course - once again the sole contender in this category. The GT2 category went to Flying Lizard Motorsport but Risi Competizione is back in the game with Mika Salo, Jaime Melo, Eric Helary and Gianmaria Bruni putting their Ferrari 430GT Berlinettas in second and third place, respectively.
Read more on the American Le Mans Series web site.
Penske's Porsche RS Spyders win the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock
Penske has managed to place their to Porsche RS Spyders on the first two steps of the podiums of the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock. The third place was taken by Highcroft Racing's Acura ARX-01a. The first Audi R10 TDi, driven by McNish and Capello arrived fifth, right behind Dyson's Porsche RS Spyder. The big surprise came from GT1: guess who won! In GT2 the first two places have been secured by Flying Lizard Motorsport's Jorg Bergmeister and Johannes van Overbeek and Rahal Letterman Racing's Tom Milner and Ralf Kelleners, both teams running a Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. Nic Jonsson and Eric Helary have placed Risi Competizione on the third place. Jaime Melo and Mika Salo arrived 22nd.
American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix
The American Le Mans Series will resume next weekend, on June 6th and 7th with an exiting grand prix at the Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. The American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix is the first American Le Mans Series race after the 24 Heures du Mans. After an impressive overall win at Le Mans, Audi is back in the US to continue the fight with Penske's Porsche RS Spyders, who won the last American Le Mans races.
Unless they totally mess up the race, the Corvettes will probably win the
GT1 category, which should not be very difficult given that once again,
the Corvette C6.Rs are the only GT1 cars on the grid. Corvette Racing
returns to the American Le Mans Series with a second place in the GT1 category
obtained at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the first place went to Aston Martin Racing. In GT2, Risi Competizione's Mika Salo
and Jaime Melo are back in the game to, after a less glorious result at the 24 Heures du Mans where their Ferrari
430 GT broke down during the race.
Lime Rock Park is a 1.54 miles long, 8 turns road circuit. The estimated race duration is 2 hours and 45 minutes. Read more about the Lime Rock Park circuit.
Nürburgring Le Mans Series - final result results
As expected, Peugeot Total have won the Le Mans Series race at Nürburgring today. The first place was secured by the Peugeot 908 of Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin while the second place came to Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian. Henri Pescarolo's Pescarolo Judd 01 driven by Emmanuel Collard and Jean-Christophe Bouillon. LPM2 was dominated by RML and Barazi Epsilon.
Oreca's Saleen S7-R driven by Stephane Ortelli and Soheil Avari arrived first in GT1 followed by Team Modena's Aston Martin DBR9 driven by Antonio Garcia and Christian Fittipaldi and Luc ALphand's Corvette C6.R driven by Jerome Policand and Luc Alphand himself. The GT2 category has been won by Virgo Motorsport running a Ferrari F430 GT followed by two Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, of Felbermayr-Proton and Farnbacher Racing, respectively.
Nürburgring Le Mans Series - free practice results
Team Peugeot Total have confirmed today their good 24 Heures du Mans performance by taking the lead in the 1000 km of Nürburgring free practice sessions. The Peugeot 908 HDIs were followed by Courage Competition's Courage-Aer LC70 in the first session and by Charouz Racing System's Lola-Judd B07/17 in the second session. Pescarolo sport arrived fourth in both sessions. The LMP2 free practice session didn't show clear domination of any team. Bruichladdich Radical, Embassy Racing, Quifel ASM, Barazi Epsilon and RML have secured decent lap times.
Oreca's Saleens S7.R have dominated both 1000 km of Nürburgring GT1 free practice sessions sessions. The Saleens were closely followed by Luc Alphand Aventures' Corvettes C6.R, leaving behind the Aston Martin DBR9s. In GT2 Virgo Motosport, Felbermayr-Proton and IMSA Performance have clearly dominated both sessions.
Read more about the 1000 Km of Nürburgring.
24 Heures du Mans 2007 Scruteneering photos
We're happy to let you know that we have released the 24 Heures du Mans 2007 Scruteneering photo album. Enjoy! The driver's parade and the race photo albums are comming soon!
After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, European teams go to Nürburgring for the Le Mans Series
The 24 Hours of Le Mans are over and teams are already getting ready to race the next events in their respective series.
In less then a week, In Europe, the Le Mans Series are going to the mythical circuit of Nürburgring. Along with Le Mans, Monza, Spa and Silverstone, Nürburgring is one of the legendary European circuits, a temple of car racing. The Nürburgring circuit is 5.148 km long and the cars will have to drive 195 laps to finish the race. If you are near the Nürburgring track next weekend, make sure you attend the following events:
| Thursday, June 28th | scruteneering will take place from 12:30 to 7pm. Look for the ACO truck |
| Friday June 29th | second scruteneering session will take place from 8:10 to 10:30 |
| Friday June 29th | Le Mans Series free practice sessions from 1pm to 2pm and from 4:50pm to 5:50pm |
| Saturday, June 30th | Le Mans Series free practice from 11:40 to 12:40 |
| Saturday, June 30th | Le Mans Series LMP1 and LMP2 qualifying session from 3pm to 3:20pm |
| Saturday, June 30th | Le Mans Series LM GT1 and LM GT2 qualifying session from 3:25pm to 3:45pm |
| Sunday July 1st | Le Mans Series warm-up, from 8:30 to 8:50 |
| Sunday July 1st | Le Mans Series 1000 km of Nürburgring, 195 laps, from 11:55 to 17:55 |
Peugeot are the big favorites of course, but the Pescarolo's are going to be right behind them ready to take advantage of any error the lions may make. For more information about the 1000 km of Nürburgring you can either e-mail your inquiries at pr@nuerburgring.de or visit the official 1000 Kilometers of Nürburgring web site.
24 Heures du Mans 2007 - post race rumors
The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 are over and interesting rumors are already
surfacing. Peugeot drivers Bourdais and Sarrazin said they're looking
to race against Audi again as soon as possible. They both hinted that Peugeot
may participate at the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October
6th but they admitted that a final decision on this matter was
not taken yet and it will have to come from Peugeot Sport
management.
In another report Henri Pescarolo hinted that his team might not be able
to raise enough funding to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2008, despite
the overall third place he achieved this year. During the current racing
season Henri Pescarolo made no secret of his opinions concerning the
fairness of ACO diesel vs. petrol regulations. His analysis shows that
from pure mechanical point of view petrol cars don't stand any chance
against the turbo diesels. Apart from the pure sporting dilemma - why
should I participate if race regulations make it impossible for me to
win - Henri Pescarolo might also get more materialistic problems: if
there is no chance to win, the big sponsors will drop his team's cars
for the much more powerful turbo diesel Le Mans prototypes. Less sponsors
means less funding which ultimately means less resources and that will
even more reduce Henri's chances to win. Because of the same reasons
valuable drivers who collaborated with him in the past, such as Sebastien
Bourdais and Sebastien Loeb might either choose factory teams such as
Peugeot or simply give up racing at Le Mans.
Bourdais sheds light over the last 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 laps
As reported here earlier the behavior
of Sebastien Bourdais behind the wheel of his Peugeot 908 HDI during
the last laps of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 was somehow intriguing.
First of all the Peugeot entered the garage about 40 minutes before the
end and stood there hidden for quite a while. Then Bourdais drove the car
out and entered the race only to stop just a few minutes later. The Peugeot
908 just stood there in the heavy rain on the side of the track and everybody
in the Peugeot garage looked horrified. Nobody knew what was going on.
Just two laps before finish, when the safety car left the track, Bourdais
drove off again and placed himself just behind the winning Audi R10.
In a declaration made after the race, Bourdais shed light over the incident: "... the strongest moment was to finally see the finish line. My engine was dying out and it probably wouldn't have lasted another lap. When the oil pressure dropped, I had to stop and wait for the other cars". Well, this clarifies things a little bit and shows just how exhausting the 24 Hours of Le Mans can be, for both drivers and cars.
Audi Wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007
Audi did it again. The Audi R10 number 1 driven by Emanuelle Piro, Marco
Werner and Frank Biella has won the 75th edition of the 24 Hours
of Le Mans. In what was an outstanding performance, the Peugeot 908
HDI FAP has arrived second, after causing a little bit of panic in the
Peugeot garage. Indeed, during the last lap the Peugeot came to an unexpected complete stop
on the side of the track, under the heavy rain. Nobody knew what was
going on and we all thought the car broke down but Sebastian Bourdais was
just waiting for the Audi to come by to fall behind it, in order to allow
for a nice finish photo. Henri Pescarolo saw his Pescarolo Judd number 16
crossing the line in third place. The Pescarolo-Judd managed by Martin
Short's Rollcentre Racing came in fourth. This is Martin Shorts best
performance ever at Le Mans. LMP2 was won by Binnie Motorsports who was
the 18th overall
followed by Barazi Epsilon in the 2727 overall position.
Aston Martin finally saw their dreams come true as the Aston Martin DBR9 number 009 arrived first in the GT1 category and achieved a remarkable 5th place overall. It was followed by Corvette Racing's
Corvette C6.R in the 6th overall position and by another Aston Martin DBR9, the number 008 of team Labre Competition in the 7th overall position. It's worth noticing how competitive the
GT1 category is, leaving many prototypes way behind in the race.
The GT2 category went to Imsa Performance Team's Porsche 911 GT3 RS, fifth
overall, followed by the Ferrari F430 GT number 99 presented jointly by
Risi Competizione and Krohn Racing who arrived 19th overall.
The third place in GT2 went to team Italian team Autorlando Sport which
achieved an exceptional result for their very first 24 Hours of Le Mans
participation.
24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 - the situation in the morning
It's been a devastating night in Le Mans, as two category leaders had to
give up following accidents. Rinaldo Capelllo crashed the overall leading
Audi R10 number 2 at the Indianapolis curve and was ordered in the paddocks
by Audi management. As a result the Audi R10 number 1 tool the leadership
followed by the two Peugeot 908 and a Pescarolo. Risi Competizione's Ferrari
F430 GTC was also forced to withdraw after Mika Salo lost control and crashed
the car the car.
24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 - the situation at midnight
The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 started as scheduled at 3pm today and the Audi's have so far dominated the race. The Peugeot 908 number 8 driven by Sarrazin and Bourdais
was keeping up until 7:30pm when it was hit by mechanical problems and was forced them to make two pit stops. The problems were fixed but the Peugeot fell 8 laps behind the Audi R10s.
At the end of the day the Audi R10s number two and three were leading the
pack. The Peugeot 908 number 7 driven by Jacques Villenueve was battling
for the third position with the Pescarolo Judd number 16.
The LMP2 category is dominated by the Lola AER number 40 of team Quifel-ASM, the Lola Zytek number 31 of Binnie Motorsports and the Zytec number 33 of team Barazi Epsilon. It's worth noticing that mexican Adrian Fernandez is performing extremely well in his very first 24 Hours of Le Mans participation.
In GT1, the official Aston Martin number 007 and 009 are leading the
race followed closely by he Corvette C6.R number 63 of Corvette Racing.
GT2 is dominated by Risi Competizione's Mika Salo and the gang on
their Ferrari F430 GT, followed by the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of italian team
Autorlando Sport.
The frequent showers in the first hours of the race increased the difficulty
and caught some of the drivers off-hand. Mike Rockenfeller lost control
of the Audi R10 number three at the Tertre Rouge curve. The car was completely
destroyed but fortunately Rockenfeller is unharmed. Other victims of this
agitated race start are the Corvette C6.R number 64, the Radical AER number
21 and the Lamborghini Murcielago number 53. The safety car was present
on the track for a total of one and a half hours during the first three
hours of the race. Fortunately the sun started to shine again and now the race continues
in the best conditions.
According to a 
The ACO has announced the final entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007. All teams on the entry list will participate at the test day on June 3rd. As for the
still open driver positions, teams can make their final choice until Tuesday, June 12th, after the official scruteneering session. Among the teams who haven't nominated their drivers yet
are ARENA INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT and COURAGE COMPETITION in LMP1, NOEL DEL BELLO, T2M MOTORSPORT and BARAZI EPSILON in LMP2. Many G1 and GT2 driver positions are still to be filled.
Download 
The ACO filled the place left vacant on the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 starting grid after the withdrawal of White Lightning Racing by inviting GPC Sport SRL, a well known GT2 team from the Le Mans Series.
Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing have announced on April 11th
that they regretfully 
Audi won the first two places in the The Acura Sports Cars Challenge of
St. Petersburg. The first place was secured by Allan McNish and Rinaldo
Capello with Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro coming in second. The Audi
R10s were followed by the two Porsche RS Spyder of Penske Racing and
the two Acura. Among non prototypes, the Corvette C6.R driven by Oliver
Gavin and Olivier Beretta came in first while Jaime Melo and Mika Salo driving
a Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta and representing Risi Competitione arrived
second, and first in the GT2 category. It should be noted that the two Corvette
C6.R didn't have any competition in GT1, being the only team registered
in that category.
The qualifying tests ended yesterday at midnight and confirmed once again
that the fight will be between the Audi R10 and the Peugeot 908. Sebastien
Bourdais and Stephane Sarrazin have secured the pole position for Peugeot.
The Peugeot 908 number 8 will be followed by the Audi R10 number 2,
by the Peugeot 908 number 7 and the Audi R10 number 1, the Audi R10
number 3 and the Pescarolo number 16. The fact that Peugeot secured
the pole position doesn't mean much. As previously reported, the Peugeot
908 has never completed a 24 Hours race, and the Aud R10s are still
very competitive, with McNish staying less the half of a second behind
Bourdais and Sarrazin. During the sole test performed during the car's
development cycle the Peugeot 908 lasted about 3000 km, compared to
typical 5000 Km 24 Hours of Le Mans run. Audi's tremendous experience
with 24 Hour races gives them a valuable advantage.
Another interesting observation is that it rained during the qualifying
test session on Thursday evening and the diesel powered cars managed
to maintain their supremacy. Every LMP1 team but Peugeot and Audi was
secretly hoping that difficult weather conditions will annihilate the advantage
diesel powered cars have over the petrol powered ones, but this is obviously
not the case. When interviewed at the driver's parade this evening, most
top petrol car drivers said they target the first place in the "petrol LMP1
category". Such a category doesn't exist, of course, and these statements show
that drivers from Pescarolo, Courage and others have accepted the idea that
beating Audi or Peugeot will required a miracle.
The driver's parade this evening was as exciting as ever. Despite the
frequent showers, the people of Le Mans came in great number to acclaim
the drivers, the super cars, majorettes and of course, the Hawaiian
Tropic Girls. Spectators had the opportunity to admire the collection
of super cars including, among others, a Bugatti Veron, a Gumpert Apollo,
a Pagani Zonda and a Peugeot 908 RC.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 scruteneering session continued today at Quinconces
des Jacobin today, with many drivers and beautiful cars passing by.
The stars of the morning were of course Team Pescarolo Sport, led by
Henri Pescarolo himself. Four times 24 Hours of Le Mans winner as a driver,
Henri Pescarolo is working hard to repeat the same success with his own
team. After winning the Le Mans Series championship two years in a row
and seriously fighting Audi in recent 24 Hours of Le Mans editions -
Pescarolo Sport finished second last year, in 2006 - the team and their
home made cars have forged a reputation of reliability to a point where
Rollcentre Racing has ordered two Pescarolo LMP1 chassis for the 2007
Le Mans Series season, on which they've mounted Judd engines. When asked
why they switched from last year's Radical SR9 to a Pescarolo prototype,
Rollcentre's Martin Short said he was tired seeing his Radical SR9s regularly
stopping for repairs while the Pescarolo cars kept turning round and
round the track as clockwork.
Everybody was delighted to discover the Creation-Judd number 9 of team
Creation Autosportif. The british team has produced a very complex and esthetic
paint work for their LMP1 prototype, the theme being
"Children of Le Mans, Children of the World".
The day ended with the almost entire 24 Hours of Le Mans Audi team being
interviewed. Dr. Ulrich talked about Audi's ambitions to win again and
about the pressure Peugeot and Pescarolo are putting on them.
Emmnuele Pirro declared his unconditional love to Le Mans and aclaimed the city for its
hospitality. He almost cried when the organizers offered him a frog figure to add to
his collection of over 200.
Tom Kristensen made a short appearance after the other Audi drivers left the site. Kristensen
suffered severe injuries following an accident at the beginning of the
DTM season and his participation was only confirmed yesterday (Monday,
June 11th) after his doctor and Audi Sport agreed to let him
run. This is why the Danish driver doesn't appear on the printed version
of the official 24 Hours of Le Mans guide.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 events series started today at 2:30 pm
with the first day of scruteneering. The session was opened by the
Peugeot 908 HDI FAP which was assaulted by the public. The French
are waiting for a very long time for a french factory team to enter
the 24 Hours of Le Mans and bring the trophy home, so the Peugeot 908 HDI
FAP was everybody's favorite. Many of the team's drivers were present and
interviewed by Radio Le Mans, including Stephane Sarrazin and Jacques Villeneuve. Although everybody here in Le Mans sees
Peugeot as a serious challenger for Audi, the team played modest saying
the goal this year is to finish the race and accumulate the experience
required to win next year. Despite them winning this year's first two Le
Mans Series events, namely the 1000 km of Monza and Valencia, the car has
never been stressed through full 24 Hours race. Peugeot has organized a
24 Hours test during the car's development cycle but according to a statement made
by Sarrazin for Radio Le Mans today, the cars have broken down after 3000
km. At Le Mans, a typical LMP1 car would cover about 5000 km. The Peugeot
908 has been improved since, but they never got the change to second test.
Another French team present today is Luc Alphand Aventures. Luc Alphand
is a former downhill ski champion successfully reconverted to car racing.
After winning the legendary Paris Dakar endurance race, his team is now
a top Le Mans Series GT1 player. Luc Alphand Aventures has two Corvette
C6.Rs on the grid and has very high ambitions for this year's 24 Hours
of Le Mans.
Also present today was Rollcentre Racing. Martin Short was also interviewed
by Radio Le Mans and spoke about the new Pescarolo-Judd car. Rollcentre,
who last year raced a couple of Radical SR9 in LMP2, was this year presented
by their sponsors with the opportunity to race in LMP1. The car they
have chosen is a Pescarolo-Judd. Earlier this year Martin Short has
spoken very highly about the Pescarolo engineering and manufacturing
teams who delivered the chassis in time and according to specifications.
Flying Lizard Motorsports have shown their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and its
amazing paint work. The exquisite artwork painted on the care made
it an instant attraction for the crowd at Quinconces des Jacobins, making
it almost impossible to take a decent picture.
Otherwise, scruteneering is the same cheerful and pleasant event it has
always been. Drivers are nice and very pleased sigh autographs and let
parents take pictures of them with their kids, as show by Martin Short,
Raymond Garac and Luc Alphand. Well keep you posted with tomorrow events.
The 75th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will start next Monday,
June 11th with the scruteneering sessions. Scruteneering is the
event where ACO officials perform the technical and administrative checks
that will enable cars and driver to take part in the race. It all happens
in the city center of Le Mans, at the Quinconces des Jacobins. Scruteneering
is a highly successful event as it is free and because it represents a
unique opportunity to get close to all the cars and drivers which will
be on the track on June 16th and 17th. The 24 Hours
of Le Mans 2007 scruteneering sessions are schedules on Monday from 2:30 pm
to 6 pm and Tuesday from 8:30 am to 5 pm.