Autoblog

As many of you are well aware, the 24 Hours of Le Mans kicked off during the last hour. American viewers can catch the action on SPEED TV. Unfortunately, unlike the old Speedvision days, there isn't full 24-hour coverage.

Here is the SPEED TV schedule:

All times Eastern

• Saturday, June 14: 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM: Live Coverage
  
• Saturday, June 14, 9:00 PM - Sunday, June 15, 9:30 AM: Live Coverage

SPEED airs assorted NASCAR and other (summarily unwatchable) assorted programming between Noon and 9:00 PM today.

Web Coverage:

• RadioLeMans.com has excellent live streaming audio. Just go to their homepage and click the Listen Live link. It dovetails nicely with the SPEED TV coverage (when it's on).
• The official Le Lans site has standings, photos, and info. You can also get web video of the race there at Club24Web, but you will need to open your wallet to do so.

If you have any other good web destinations to suggest with regard to Le Mans coverage, leave a comment below.

As we reported yesterday, Peugeot was clearly the fastest in qualifying for this weekend's running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The record-setting runs of all three 908 HDi diesel-powered LMP1 cars places Peugeot's entire field of entries 1-2-3 on the starting grid. That's impressive considering two of Peugeot's car crashed during the past two weeks of practice. Audi is hoping that its team's experience, quicker pit stops and more fuel efficient R10 LMP1 cars will eventually carry it past the Peugeots, despite starting fourth, fifth and seventh on the 55-car grid. And thanks to the speed of Lola Aston Martin driver Stefan Mücke whose petrol-powered car earned the sixth spot on the starting grid, not all the front runners will be diesel-powered.

As for classes other than LMP1, the next fastest LMP2 class was dominated by the Porsche Spyders not surprisingly, while LMGT1 is being led by the #63 Corvette Racing C6.R. The Corvettes will be chased this year by the particularly fast #50 Larbre Competition Saleen S7 and some slower but determined Aston Martin DBR9s from Aston Martin Racing. Finally, LMGT2 will be another great battle between Porsches and Ferraris, with the #76 Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on pole for the class. Remember the amazing GT2 class finish of last year's race between Flying Lizard's Jorg Bergmeister in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo in a Ferrari 430GT? If not, watch it again here as a reminder of why Le Mans is absolutely amazing. Also check out this great post at UltimateCarPage that has a detailed breakdown of all 55 cars with an image of each one and a list of their drivers.

[Source: 24 Hours of Le Mans, UltimateCarPage, Photo by JEAN FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP/Getty ]

The 76th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place this weekend, and just like last year, Audi and Peugeot will be duking it out in front with their diesel-powered LMP1 cars. The Audi R10 is a proven race machine, both durable and fast, but the Peugeot 908 has often times proved faster. Late yesterday at the first qualifying session for the endurance race, the 908 proved to be the fastest by far when it shattered the lap record at Le Mans by 7.8 seconds! The car was being driven by French driver Stephane Sarrazin, who man-handled the 908 around the track in 3 minutes and 18.513 seconds. A truly amazing feat, though what's more incredible is that the next five fastest times also beat the previous lap record, two of which were Audi R10s. Unfortunately, the second and third fastest times behind the fastest Peugeot 908 were two more Peugeot 908s. The Peugeot cars are clearly faster than the Audis so far in qualifying, but that was the case last year and Audi pulled out a win just like it has the past four years in a row. Unlike the Le Mans Series races where Peugeot has won the first three races so far this year, Le Mans is about endurance and Audi has proven seven out of the last eight years that it can last longer than the rest.

[Source: Reuters, Photo by Ker Robertson/Getty]

Despite confirmation from Audi that it will return to ALMS in 2008 with two R10 TDIs, apparently it's not officially official. It is well known that Audi holds extreme displeasure for ALMS regulation changes involving weight that were aimed at keeping the LMP1 vehicles like the R10 in close running with the less powerful LMP2 vehicles. Audi believes that the adjustments went too far, as the Penske Porsche RS Sypders won 8 out of 12 races in the 2007 season. For 2008, a 50 kg (110 lb) weight penalty will be imposed on the LMP2 cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, and Audi hopes to see IMSA implement the same weight penalty before it decides it will return to ALMS. When asked, Audi would also not go into detail on whether they would accept the rumored compromise of a 25 kg (55 lb) weight penalty. Come on, IMSA. The ALMS without Audi is a lot less attractive.

[Source: Autoweek]

To say that Audi has been successful in motorsports the past few years would be a gross understatement. Both the diesel-powered R8 and R10 TDI LMP1 race cars have dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series, while Audi A4-based race cars have also been champions in DTM racing. For 2008, Audi is going whole hog into motorsports, investing more money and cars into these two successful series. Audi will be going for its sixth victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June with three R10 race cars, and in addition to entering another two R10 TDIs in the American Le Mans Series, it will also field a pair in the Le Mans Series in Europe. Aside from the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, this will be the first time the Audi R10 TDI and Peugeot 908 HDi, both powered by diesel engines, square off on a regular basis. Lucas Luhr, who previously could be found driving in the DTM series, will also make the switch to the Audi R10 TDI in the Le Mans Series.

While we spent the entire last season of the American Le Mans Series watching the Audi R10 TDI duke it out with the entire LMP2 field, the Le Mans Series in Europe featuring Audi versus Peugeot will be where the best racing can be had. Too bad SPEED hardly shows anything but NASCAR now.

[Source: Audi]

Not many automakers have accomplished as much as Audi at LeMans. Though it only began competing at LeMans in 1999, the automaker has achieved six overall victories from its eight starts, including the first ever win for a diesel-powered car with its R10 last year. This Saturday before the start of the 75th running of the 24 Hours of LeMans, a 12-meter high sculpture will be unveiled in the circuit's "Village" to honor Audi's success in what many consider to be the most demanding race in the world.

Fourtitude has pics of the "Audi Tower" as it looks today, which appears encased inside a giant box shaped like, well, a 12-meter-tall tower. According to Audi, the actual sculpture features 24 rotating rings that light up between the tower's base and its top. There's also a video wall on the sculpture's front face, and its glass surface will be etched with the names of every driver to have ever won the 24 Hours of LeMans.

We're excited to see what this thing looks like, but have enough faith in Audi's aesthetic taste to expect a finely crafted work of art. You can check out a few more pics of the tower as it stands by clicking the Read link.

[Source: Fourtitude]

UPDATE: Live pics of reveal at LeMans added to gallery

click above image for high-res version

You may remember Flying Lizard Motorsports as the ALMS GT2 team campaigning a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in this season's 12 Hours of Sebring. The Flying Lizard GT2 Porsche lost a heroic last lap duel with the Risi Competizione Ferrari 430GT. Video of the drag race through the final turn is total car p0rn.

The Flying Lizard Porsche has been running well in the first five rounds of ALMS so far, but it's come in second every time so far to a Risi Competizione 430GT. Obviously, these two teams now have a lot of history heading into the 24 Hours of LeMans this weekend, and despite the Ferrari taking the checkered flag every weekend in ALMS, a Porsche has only lost the GT2 class at LeMans once in the last 27 years, and Flying Lizard is keen to keep them on top.

Today at LeMans was scrutineering, which is a lot of pomp and circumstance that has all the teams and drivers congregate in the parking lot of the cathedral in downtown LeMans. Once they have run the gauntlet of media of fans, each team makes their formal presentation to the series officials. This year, Flying Lizard is spicing it up a bit by unveiling a unique livery for its Porsche 911 GT3 RSR designed by the well known Troy Lee of Troy Lee Designs. Lee was allowed to reinterpret the spirt of the "Flying Lizard" and created a car that will surely stand out among its competitors. The entire look is a vinyl wrap that will be applied this weekend and stripped back off after the race, meaning it will only appear in public just this once. Hopefully we'll see it in the winner's circle, as Autoblog will be following Team Flying Lizard very closely. They've promised us lots of pics and updates on their progress throughout the race, which we'll be sure to pass along to you.

[Source: Flying Lizard Motorsports]

LeMans fans waiting patiently to watch the greatest diesel duel in the history of motorsports got a preview on Sunday during an official test session for the 24 Hours of LeMans. All 55 teams were on hand, but our attention is focused on the reigning Audi R10 and newcomer from Peugeot, the 908 HDi. Both cars are a tour de force of diesel technology, but the 908 HDi driven by Sebastien Bourdais proved itself a smidge faster during testing, posting the best recorded lap of the shortened 8.47 test course with a time of 3:26:707 seconds. The Audi R10 driven by Frank Biela posted the second quickest time of 3:28:277 seconds, a little over 1.5 ticks slower than the Peugeot. The other 908 HDi car finished fifth, while the other two Audi R10s finished third and sixth, respectively. The two Peugeot 908 HDi cars completed the day with no mechanical issues, though the Audi teams were dogged by a number of red flags. There's less than two weeks left before the 24 Hours of LeMans begins on June 16th, so we expect both teams to arrive prepared and ready to lay it all out on the track.

[Source: News Press]

UPDATE: Fixed the lap time errors.

Unfortunately we won't be in attendance at this year's 24 Hours of LeMans, but Thomas Baekdal made a web application that could make this unfortunate fact a little more bearable, if it only it were legal to for the rest of us to access (see close up screen shots here). Baekdal, who admits to not even liking sports in general save for this one race, wanted a web app that could outdo TV coverage in its breadth of information provided and immediacy. He's developing his own application to pull data from Lemans.org and Club24 and display it on a rather attractive screen that puts you right in the action. When it's finished, Baekdal expects it will provide the following real-time data of the race.

• Live News
• The exact Le Mans time
• Lap times
• Lap position
• Race events
• Picture, web cams
• Background information

Unfortunately, because of copyright restrictions set by the governing body of LeMans, Baekdal will not be able to make his application available to the public. He is offering it to them if they'd like to incorporate it into the Club24 experience, though we'd expect it would then cost money to access. That's too bad, as we could see ourselves blindly staring at our computer screen for 24 hours if Baekdal's app were available.
Thanks for the tip, Eliot!

[Source: Baekdal.com]

It's no secret that Audi hasn't had as successful a season so far in the American LeMans Series with its diesel-powered R10 racers compared to last year. As it had begun doing last season, the ALMS has instituted regulations designed to slow down the dominant R10s in their LMP1 class, effectively making even the cars in the more contested LMP2 class faster. For instance, Audi's fastest car placed second overall in last week's Utah Grand Prix and third overall in the prior week's Grand Prix of Houston, both times behind cars in the LMP2 class. Last year, an Audi R10 driver was highest on the podium at every race of the season.

This is why Audi is so amped up for the 2007 24 Hours of LeMans where the LMP1 class is supreme and unhindered by these stifling regulations. This year, however, Audi will be up against a formidable opponent in Peugeot's 908 HDi FAP racer, which is also powered by a diesel motor, though fitted with two more cylinders than the R10.

Recognizing that LeMans remains as the sole race to demonstrate its dominance, Audi has decided to field a third car in addition to the two that are being shipped over from the ALMS series. The third car will be obviously badged "car number 3" and driven by three donated drivers from Audi's DTM team: Alexandre Préma, Mike Rockenfeller, and Lucas Luhr (shown above left to right). A third set of wheels will obviously give team Audi a better shot at overall victory, especially considering that, over the course of 24 hours of racing, it's likely one of the cars will suffer a race-ending fate.

[Source: Audi]