PORSCHES ON TOP IN ADELAIDE GT OPENER

Porsches have dominated the opening day's practice session of the first round of the Australian GT championship on the streets of Adelaide. Canberra driver James Koundouris in his Porsche 997 GT3 outpaced defending champion David Wall and Victorian Max Twigg to lead a big field of 31 GT cars. Tony Quinn in the controversial Mosler MT900 was the only car to challenge the Porsches which featured in five of the first six places. High profile Lamborghini driver Peter Hackett had to play second fiddle in the battle of the Gallardo's to local driver Andrew Taplin. Former GT champion Mark Eddy debuted his new Audi R8 LMS in 11th spot just ahead of the battling Dodge Viper pair of Greg Crick and Ross Lilley.

PEUGEOT FOCUS ON NEW PROTOTYPE

Reigning Le Mans 24 hour winners Peugeot will focus their attention on building a new prototype for 2011 and are unlikely to compete in the new ACO Intercontinental Cup. The Cup which will combine the Sebring 1000 race, The Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta and the Asian Le Mans series race has already attracted the interest of Peugeot's great rival Audi, but the French manufacturer has more pressing commitments. Speaking to the British publication "Autosport" Peugeot Sport boss Olivier Quesnel said that Peugeot was unlikely to have any factory presence in 2010 after the Le Mans 24 Hours. "The Intercontinental Cup is a good idea, but we can't do everything." he said. Mr Quesnel said that Peugeot had two main objectives for 2010 "to do our best with the current car at Le Mans and to build a new car for 2011,"

NO THREAT TO SYDNEY GT RACE

The Australian GT Championship have denied rumours that they would not be on the grid for the Sydney street race in 2010. A post on an Internet forum had claimed that the GTs had been replaced for Sydney, a story denied by Australian GT Director Rachael Wagg. "I don't know where they'd get that one from." she said. "Our calendar for next year is almost set and at this stage the only date not confirmed is a planned race at Phillip Island." Ms. Wagg said that it was possible that the GT series could run it's own meeting at the Island if nothing suitable could be found.

PETITE LE MANS, LE WRAP UP A PARTIR de SPEED TV

PEUGEOT ENTERS PETIT LE MANS. AUDI TO FOLLOW ?

Peugeot have confirmed that the team will compete in this year's Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in late September. Pedro Lamy, Nic Minassian, Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin will make up the driving lineup for the team in it's second attempt at the race. Last year’s Petit Le Mans saw the team of Stephane Sarrazin, Nic Minassian and Christian Klien came up 4.512 seconds shy of race-winner Audi in an epic battle. American Le Mans Series organisers are thrilled at the news in a year when the series has struggled following the departure of the dominant Audi team. “It would be hard for us to imagine a stronger end to 2009 than with Peugeot sending not one but two clean diesel-powered prototypes for an event that truly has become a spectacle on the landscape of global motorsport,” said Series President and CEO Scott Atherton. “With the Le Mans trophy already in hand, the potential of adding yet another significant honour to close out the year would wrap up a season for the ages…especially if the rumour mill is indeed accurate and other world-class teams and manufacturers who are no strangers to Road Atlanta, Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6 and Peugeot confirm their entries in the near future." This is clearly a hint to the strong rumours that Audi will return to the race in it's Sebring winning R15. Audi were hurting after it's Le Mans loss and the team will be looking for more testing opportunities in preparation for next year's classic. Should Audi enter the race, the prospect of a clash between the German marque, Peugeot and the all conquering Acuras will be one that will excite Sportscar fans the World over. with ALMS Media

THE SPEED TV LE MANS WRAP

PEUGEOT WINS LE MANS: BRABHAM BREAKS THROUGH

French manufacturer Peugeot has broken through to take it's first Le Mans 24 hour race since 1993 and for the second time the name Brabham has gone into the record books. The team of Marc Gene, Alex Wurz and Australia's David Brabham led from early in the race holding on to win from the popular local team of Sebastian Bourdais, Stephane Sarrazin and Frank Montagny Audi who had dominated the race for the last decade had a tough weekend despite a finishing third. Alan McNish, Dindo Cappello, and Tom Kristenson survived a number of mechanical problems to make it to the finish six laps down on the leader. A number of incidents studded the race, the biggest being early in the morning involving Pescarollo Peugeot driver Benoit Treluyer. Treluyer crashed after taking over the car from Simon Pagenaud who pitted  with smoke coming out of the car. The Peugeot returned to the race after repair but Trulyer made it only as far as just after the Dunlop Bridge when his Peugeot left the road and struck the barrier at high-speed. The car was totally destroyed in the accident. The driver was taken to hospital, shaken but without major injury. Japanese driver Seiji Ara was also lucky to escape injury after his LMP2 Porsche Spyder had a big crash late in the rate heading into the playstation chicane on the fast Mulsanne straight. LMP2 was won by the Team Essex Porsche Spyder of Casper Elgaard, Emmanuele Collard and Kristian Poulsen. The small GT1 field was dominated by the Corvette team in their final ever GT1 appearence, Johnny O'Conell, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia taking the win from the privately entered Luc Alphand Adventures Corvette of Xavier Maassen, Julien Jousse & Yann Clairay. O'Connell's team-mate Sacha Massen led late in the race but mechanical failure cost him any chance. GT2 was a Ferrari benefit with the Risi Competizioni car of Jamie Melo, Mika Salo and Pierre Kaffer taking the win.

SENSATIONAL SARRAZIN AS PEUGEOT TAKES LE MANS POLE

Peugeot will start the 2009 Le Mans 24 hour race from pole following a sensational last gasp qualifying lap by Stephane Sarrazin. Audi looked set to take pole after dominating free practice Wednesday evening with Allan McNish setting the fastest time. But as the clock headed to the midnight close of session Sarrazin reeled off a spectacular 3m22.888s just seven tenths quicker than McNish to give the French Automaker it's third straight pole position. The McNish Audi breaks up a Peugeot dominated front grid. The car of Nicolas Minassion. Pedro Lamy and Christian Klein will start from their ahead of the “borrowed” Peugeot of the Pescarollo team led by Jean-Christophe Boullion. Australia's David Brabham will start from fifth place thanks to a fast lap from Marc Gene, they'll start alongside the second Audi led by Marco Werner. The third Audi of Bernhard, Dumas and Premat will start out of position number seven with the Lola/Aston-Martin of Charouz, Enge and Mucke the fastest of the petrol powered cars in eighth place. Aston Martin rounds out the top ten with the Davidson, Turner and Verstappen car just in front of Jarni, Belichi and Prost. Danish driver Casper Elgaard won pole in LM P2 with the Essex Porsche RS Spyder just ahead of the other RS Spyder, of the Japanese Navi team Goh. Third in LM P2 is the Speedy Racing/Team Sebah Lola Judd. As expected Corvette dominated the dwindling GT1 field with Jan Magnussen leading the category at the wheel of the #63 Corvette. The two GM works cars easily lead the class, outpacing the #66 Jet Alliance Aston Martin by over two seconds.   Porsche won the first battle with Ferrari in GT2 as the American based Flying Lizard team took their first pole at Le Mans. The famous red and silver Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of  Jorg Bergmeister won pole with a best lap at 4.03.202. The 2008 champions the Risi Competizione Ferrari team  is third, after being overtaken by another Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, the #77 car of the Felbermayr Proton racing team. Australian based Danish driver Alan Simonsen will start out of position number 47 in his Ferrari 430 GT2. The Le Mans 24 begins Saturday at 3.00 p.m. local time, Australian viewers can watch the start live on ONE HD from 10.30 p.m.  Radio Le Mans is broadcasting live at www.radiolemans.com . Macintosh users having trouble accessing this feed should install VLC player and go direct to mms://mercury.radica.com/radioshowltd or mms://venus.radica.com/radioshowltd .

LE MANS: THE GREATEST RACE

It's all happening, the countdown has begun for the greatest spectacle in International motorsport, forget F1, ignore the Indy 500, don't even consider the Bathurst 1000, the greatest race in all motorsport is without a shadow of a doubt Le Mans. For the first time since 1984 Australian television audiences will have the chance to see the race live, well some of it anyway. TEN's new ONE HD sports channel will bring Aussie viewers the race live from 10.30 p.m. Saturday night with live coverage going through until 2.00AM when the network crosses to NASCAR Qualifying. The coverage continues from 6.30AM till 10.00AM with the final few hours also covered live from 8.30PM till 11.10PM when coverage of the MotoGP begins. For most Australians Le Mans is an abstract concept, not since the early eighties has there been any real mainstream media coverage of the greatest race. Even that proud purveyor of obscure sports everywhere cable TV confined their coverage to a scant hour of highlights often weeks after the race. Of course we on In Pit Lane tried our best to keep the spirit of Le Mans alive. In 2004 I attended my first Le Mans, it was everything I had expected and way, way more. The efficiency and friendliness of the ACO officials is a long way from the indifference and arrogance of the average Aussie racetrack. As I've said on the show before, it was easier to get into Le Mans and do our job than it is to get through the tunnel at Phillip Island for a round of the Victorian State Series. The media centre is remarkable, every table with its own monitor, a lockable cage for your laptop and a steady stream of information all delivered with a smile from a crew who are not only professional but knowledgeable and quite rightly proud of their event. It makes a big difference from some media centres at a typical V8 Supercar event when any request for information on a support event is met with a mixture of confusion and utter contempt. The track itself is suburb, sadly not all of it is accessible to the average spectator but there's plenty of good places to view from. The esses down from the famous Dunlop bridge is a favourite, especially on Saturday night when you can stand on the hill and watch the cars on one side and them flip around to the bands at the annual rock concert. Of course any trip to France must include food and wine and Le Mans is no disappointment there either.

FIA GT3: THE STARS COME OUT AT NIGHT IN ITALY

After two thrilling races at Silverstone, the teams and drivers competing in the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship head to Italy for the first visit by the series to the Adria International Raceway near Venice.    The 2.7km circuit is one of the most technically demanding on the 2009 calendar and, in another first for the FIA GT3 European Championship, will also feature a night race on Saturday evening. Last week at Silverstone, the opening round of the 2009 championship saw 37 cars line up to take the start behind the AutoGT Racing Morgan of Dimitri Enjalbert, who claimed Morgan’s first ever GT3 pole position. Enjalbert lost the lead to the Hexis Racing Aston Martin of Thomas Accary on the run into the first corner but fought back at Maggotts to emerge onto Hanger Straight back in front. Accary had to fend off the attentions of the two Audi’s of Christopher Mies (Team Rosberg) and Nicolas Armindo (Team Rosberg). After the pitstops Johan-Boris Scheier in the leading Morgan was caught and passed by Christopher Haase in the Team Rosberg Audi. However the young German was denied a debut win by a transmission failure six laps from home and victory went to the Morgan, the manufacturer’s first international win since 1962 at Le Mans and a first for AutoGT Racing.