[Shade]

Just kicked off minutes ago, and this could be an interesting race.

I can't really bend my mind around the fact that a diesel car is one of the favourites to win the LMP1 class, but then again I personally lean towards the Pescarolos for ultimate victory - They were fast as hell last year and if they've just sorted the technical difficulties between then and now, I think they'll have the race even if the slew of Audis (both R10 and R8) are going to be close behind.

GT1 class looks close as well. Corvette are always good, but those Aston Martins really look strong (and look good too... I wouldn't mind being seen in one of those ), and I expect they have the upper hand if they can last the distance. Probably going to come down to driver skill though.

I'd be interested to hear what others think of it - If anyone even cares about this race with the football WC going on next door

[Roanoke]

LeMans is probably the only international event I would travel to see. And even then, mainly for the camping 'n' beer.

I miss the GT1 heydays, before the likes of Toyota, Mercedes, Porsche etc starting fielding thinly disguised racing prototypes, as apposed to genuine racing prepped road cars.

[IceFire]

I haven't watched LeMans before....havent' been into the whole racing thing till more recently.  Who's showing it and when is it on or what is the schedule?

[aldo_14]

I haven't watched LeMans before....havent' been into the whole racing thing till more recently.  Who's showing it and when is it on or what is the schedule?

Eeeh, it'll be finished in about an hour (24 hour race) by the looks of it.

[Shade]

Yep, just finished: Audi - Perscarolo - Audi in the top LMP class, Corvette - Aston Martin - Alphand in the top GT class, the #1 Audi being the first Diesel car ever to win the race. Very impressive car indeed, brand new car and engine, yet ran the full 24h with only minor problems not to mention beating the petrol cars in both speed and endurance.

As for the race itself, it's run every year on june 17th/18th between 4pm and 4pm (delayed 1 hour this year due to WC next door). As for who's showing it, that varies between countries. Here in Denmark, the full 24 hours are broadcast non-stop, split up between two channels. It's basically the worlds biggest and most prestigious motor race, with somewhere in the region of 200.000 to 250.000 spectators on the site (and that in a year when the football WC is going on right next door in Germany) and an obscene number of millions watching it on TV.

[Roanoke]

are Audi the only team running with full factory backing ?

[Shade]

This year they were, in the LMP1 class anyway. I actually believe both the Astons and the Corvettes had factory backing as well, but those were GT1 cars. Next year, Renault will be there with a brand new factory-backed car. It was almost a given they would win this year I guess, I just didn't really believe those new engines would last the full race without problems, but then again when you have a Formula 1 budget and just one major race to spend it on, you better deliver

Lots of manufaturers have been there in earlier years though, but were scared away for one reason or the other. Mercedes left in shame after one of their cars took off and killed some people, Jaguar pulled out after a string of wins (didn't want to be beaten I presume), same with Ford (Ford GTs owned Le Mans for a while), and some ran away scared because they couldn't build a car that lasted the full race and so Le Mans just made them look bad. Expect some might return now that Renault is entering the fray - It's huge commercial exposure if you can make a half decent showing.

[Roanoke]

Renault's entry should be interesting. What do you reckon, LMP class ?

I remember the Mercedes CLK flipping on the Mulsanne. Did Porsche not have a factory/customer team by the way ?