BRITISH DRIVERS DOWN UNDER PAY TRIBUTE TO DAN

British sportscar drivers Richard Westbrook and Oliver Gavin will pay tribute to countryman Dan Wheldon at this weekend’s Armor All Gold Coast 600. Wheldon tragically passed away following an IndyCar accident in Las Vegas last weekend. He was scheduled to race alongside James Courtney at the Surfers Paradise street circuit this weekend. Both Westbrook and Gavin are life long friends and rivals of their countryman Wheldon, with all three members of the exclusive British Racing Drivers Club. Westbrook and Gavin will unveil special visor stickers in memory of Wheldon in pit lane at the Surfers Paradise street circuit at 9.30am local Queensland time. All BRDC members present at this weekend’s event will carry the special visor stripe stickers as a tribute to Wheldon. They are Westbrook, Gavin, Andy Priaulx, Emanuele Pirro, Gil de Ferran, Marino Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe, Richard Lyons and Darren Turner. Westbrook will partner Todd Kelly in the #7 Jack Daniel’s Commodore at the Armor All Gold Coast 600, while Gavin will drive alongside Greg Murphy in the #11 Pepsi Max Commodore. Source: Kelly Racing Media Release

LE MANS DAY 1: Peugeot pounce on provisional pole

Just when it looked like Audi was set to dominate practice & qualifying fir the 2011 Le Mans 24 hours, along came Stephane Sarrazin. With half an hour of the first session remaining, Sarrazin grabbed provisional pole position with a lap of 3’27’’033. And with a strong chance of rain for tonight's final session it may well be good enough to give Peugeot the coveted pole position. Earlier in the day Audi dominated the opening practice session with all three R18s at the top of the time sheets. The team, which had set the fastest times in the April test session looked set to continue it's advantage over the Peugeot but that was until Sarrazin's last minute charge.

LISTEN TO LE MANS LIVE

It’s become a Le Mans tradition, Radio Le Mans which started as a small project to give the vast army of British fans something to listen to has since developed into the International voice of Sportscar Racing. Once again John Hindaugh and the team will be on hand at Le Mans all week to give you [...]

PEUGEOT REVEALS NEW LE MANS RACER

Peugeot Sport have unveiled their challenger to retake the Le Mans 24 hour from arch-rival Audi with the new 908. Although visually similar to the original 908 908 HDi FAP, the new car has been radically changed to meet the new LMP1 regulations of event organisers the ACO. The 908 most notably features the so-called shark's fin engine-cover appendix which has sadly been mandated by the new rules. Once again it is a closed-cockpit car, but now features four identical sized wheels as pioneered by Nick Wirth with the ALMS HPD LMP1 two years ago. The new car has an all new engine, a 550-horsepower, 3.7-litre V8 HDi FAP diesel engine.

PORSCHE UNVEIL 918 RSR AT DETROIT

Porsche is continuing to extend its performance in the field of hybrid technology with an exciting new release at this years North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The two-seater mid-engine coupé the 918 RSR clearly reveals what happens when the technology fitted in the 911 GT3 R hybrid and the design of the 918 Spyder are transferred to a modern, innovative super sports car. The 911 GT3 R hybrid racing car proved to be an attention magnet during competition racing on the Nuerburgring Nordschleife circuit, during the American Le Mans Series races (ALMS) in Road Atlanta/USA and the ILMC run in China's Zhuhai. It demonstrated its massive performance potential under realistic motor racing conditions against top competitors. The 911 GT3 R Hybrid, referred to internally as the “Race Lab" actually surpassed the high expectations of Porsche Motorsport. Competitiveness, high reliability and exemplary fuel efficiency combined with top performance under-scored the Porsche technicians' basic idea of generating additional power in an intelligent manner. The 911 GT3 R Hybrid obtains its additional power from its own vehicle dynamics when braking. Porsche is now transplanting this technology into the mid-engine coupé 918 RSR, the motor sports version of the 918 Spyder concept car.

LARGE FIELDS SEE ALMS PITSTOP CHANGE

Big fields at this weekend's American Le Mans Series round at the famous Mosport circuit in Canada have forced series organisers to make changes to pit stop procedures. The large grid of 30 cars will mean a realigned pitlane operation for the race. During yellow-flag caution periods the pit entrance will be closed immediately, as is standard practice. Once the Safety Car has the overall leader and field in tow, IMSA officials will open the pits with LMP and LMPC cars only allowed to pit on the first lap. On the next lap, all GT and GTC cars may pit. For subsequent laps, any car may come in to pit lane.

SPORTSCARS GO FLYING AT ALMS UTAH

BRABHAM, PAGENAUD WIN UTAH ALMS

Australian David Brabham and team-mate Simon Pagenaud have raced to their third consecutive victory in the American Le Mans Series with a hard-fought victory in the Utah Grand Prix. Pagenaud drove the final 1:45 in the team’s HPD ARX-01c, and the Patrón Highcroft crew took advantage of a quick final pit stop to beat Drayson Racing’s Emanuele Pirro to the line by 19.116 seconds at Miller Motorsports Park. Pagenaud and Brabham haven’t lost since the Long Beach round in April and increased their championship lead in LMP to 11 points over Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Klaus Graf. He and Greg Pickett, driving a Porsche Spyder, were third, 90 seconds behind the winning car.

LE MANS CLASSIC LOOKS TO THE ELECTRIC FUTURE

The Le Mans classic is a bi-annual event featuring a stunning collection of classic sportscars from Le Mans legendary past. But this year, the classic will see the on-track debut of what many believe will be the racecar of tomorrow. French manufacturer Citroen will debut the "racing" version of it's Citroen's all-electric concept car, The Survolt. Appropriately the car will be driven by one of the most famous surnames in all Le Mans history.  Vanina Ickx, daughter of multiple Le Mans winner (and one time Bathurst winner) Jacky Ickx will be behind the wheel of the new car when it makes it's international on-track debut.

AUDI WIN RECORD BREAKING LE MANS

If you keep your head when all around are losing theirs, you'll be the tallest person in the room. Audi kept their head and were rewarded with a remarkable 1, 2, 3 finish at the 2010 Le Mans 24 hour classic. The victorious Audi R15 TDI with Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France) and Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) at the wheel, completed a total of 397 laps and setting a new distance record of 5,410 kilometres. Second place went to Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and local driver Benoît Treluyer. Their R15 TDI lost time in the pits when the front bodywork had to be changed twice after contact with the track barriers. In third place was the most experienced team in the Audi line up Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish. Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen lost time when he had to evade the GT2 BMW of Andy Priaulx and slid backwards against the track barrier of the Porsche corners. With fast lap times, Capello, Kristensen and McNish pushed back into the group of the front runners and in the end were rewarded with a podium result.