NURBURGRING 24 HOUR LIVE STREAMING

The Nurburgring 24 hour race is rapidly growing in stature, in fact there are some who feel the race around the clock, around the ring, is now even better than the most famous 24 hour race of them all Le Mans. This year around 170 cars of all sorts will take part although the quickest will [...]

SPA 6 HOURS LIVE

The Spa 6 Hour race at the famous Spa-Francochamps circuit in Belgium is the lead up race to the greatest race is world motorsport the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year the race is also the second round of the new World Endurance Championship. With newcomers Toyota out of the race after a testing accident, all [...]

AUDI ON TOP IN ELECTRIFYING HYBRID DEBUT

A dream debut Audi's new hybrid e-tron R18 as the #1 car driven by Fässler, Lotterer and Treluyer, the winning trio of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2011, setting the fastest time of day one in the lead up to the Spa 6 hour race this weekend. Audi dominated taking the top four places in a dry practice. Former Formula 1 driver Nick Heidfeld in the Lola-Toyota #12 of Rebellion Racing was the quickest of the petrol powered cars but he was well off the pace set by the dominant Audi team. Olivier Pla led the way in LMP2 with the Morgan-Judd #24 of OAK Racing with a time of 2'10'058, improving by nearly six tenths of the time achieved by Soheil Ayari before the lunch break. The Lola-Judd of Status GP occupied second place, (as it did in the first free practice session), before leaving the track. Third was the Oreca-Nissan #26 of Signatech-Nissan driven by Nelson Panciatici, a rookie in endurance racing who has adapted quickly to his new discipline.

TOYOTA RETURN TO TESTING AS AUDI DEBUT AT SPA

Although they won't be at Spa for round two of the World Endurance Championship the Toyota TS030 hybrid will be a the track this weekend. The team will complete a functionality test of its new chassis at the Magny-Cours circuit in France. Following the accident at Paul Ricard on 4 April, which damaged the monocoque of the first TS030, the team has worked hard to accelerate production of a second car. This will be completed directly before transportation to the one-day functionality test. A total of seven test days were cancelled in April as a result of the testing accident, giving the team no opportunity to validate the aerodynamic and hybrid system specifications intended for its first race. So the team had no choice but to miss the WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps event, which takes place on 3-5 May. Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President: “I would like to express my thanks to the staff members at Toyota Motorsport GmbH who have worked so hard to deliver our second monocoque ahead of schedule. Now we have a very intense testing programme to prepare for Le Mans, beginning with an initial functionality test to shakedown our systems.”

DELTAWING GETS A DRENCHING

The Nissan DeltaWing  kicked off its European testing program in England at Snetterton, in Norfolk, yesterday with Scotsman Marino Franchitti and German Michael Krumm getting the opportunity to sample the car in wet conditions. Steady rain throughout the morning enabled the team to undertake wet weather development with tyre partner, Michelin, with the hugely innovative 1.6-litre Nissan DIG-T turbo-powered car. With the famous Le Mans 24 Hour race just two months away, the Nissan DeltaWing team gained valuable information about the ground-breaking car's performance in typical European track conditions, having conducted all of its development work so far in America.

TESTING CRASH PUTS TOYOTA OUT OF SPA WEC DEBUT

In a move that can only be described as "interesting" Toyota have announced that as a result of a "testing accident" it is not able to participate in the WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. A media release sent out today, April 11, claimed that during testing at Paul Ricard, on Wednesday 4 April, the TS030 HYBRID was involved in an accident which damaged the team’s only monocoque. According to the team the damage is too severe to repair. A replacement monocoque cannot be produced and sufficiently tested to ensure reliability within the limited time available. "Therefore Toyota Racing has informed the organisers of the FIA World Endurance Championship of its decision to withdraw from the WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, due to be held on 5 May." The decision is sure to raise some eyebrows with the team now to make its first appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

ELMS Rnd 1: 6 HOURS OF LE CASTELLET - LIVE

Le Mans Series 2012 - LE CASTELLET - LIVE by ELMS

QUIET START FOR EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES

A new era for European endurance racing kicks off this weekend as the European Le Mans Series gets underway at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. The new series will feature LMP2 as it's premier category leaving the faster (and more expensive) LMP 1 machines to the new World Championship which got underway last month at Sebring. Five separate chassis will be represented including Lola, Oreca and the revived Morgan brand. There are at this stage only two engines being used. Nissan and well know endurance race engine specialists Judd. Attracting the most attention will be the new team of eight time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb. The last minute deal to put the team together has left then short of testing time but there's plenty of driving experience to overcome any shortfall.

TRUTH IN 24 “BEST MOTORSPORT DOCO EVER?”

For all the hype over the movie Senna, one motorsport film of the last few years that may have been overlooked is "Truth in 24" Made by NFL films, yep, the people who make those incredible promotional and documentary films for American football, "Truth in 24" documents Audi's brilliant win in the 2008 Le Mans 24 hours. The film has sadly had little exposure outside the United States where it has been available for download via the US iTunes store free of charge.

THE SIGHTS & SOUNDS OF SEBRING