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.

PEUGEOT POWERS BACK IN PORTUGAL

After playing second fiddle to the Peugeot factory team for most of 2010, the Oreca Peugeot team of Stephane Sarrazin, Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre have won the Algarve 1000 kms in Portugal, the third round of the 2010 Le Mans Series. It was a dominant performance by the works assisted team, winning the race by five laps after starting from pole. "It's good to win!." said Sarrazin after the race. "The team did a super job. We were under a little pressure but we did what we had to. The refuelling stops were excellent and we dove the right kind of race - a good pace and no mistakes. It's also worth underling the way the team's matured since the Le Castellet 8 Hours. I'm delighted to taste the joys of victory again." Second place went to the Rebellion Racing Lola of Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani, It was a great performance by the team who drove their way through the field after starting the race in last place. Aston Martin was third today with Team Signature coming back strong after the retirement at Le Mans. The third place was also a great result for Vanina Ickx who shared the drive with Pierre Ragues and Franck Mailleux.

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.

SEE & HEAR (or not as the case may be) THE CITROEN SURVOLT

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.

PEUGEOT STAY ON TOP AT LE MANS

Peugeot continued their domination of the timing sheets with a lock out of positions one to four for the starting grid at Le Mans. The Wednesday time of local hero Sebastien Bourdais was quick enough to keep pole position from team mate Alexander Wurz who was the quickest of the drivers in the second 908. Third place will see the combination of Frank Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and long time In Pit Lane favourite Nicolas Minassian start alongside the semi-works ORECA Peugeot of Panis, Lapierre and Duval. Audi closed the gap slightly to the French marque but will have to rely on reliability and their famous strategy to have any chance of regaining the Le Man crown.

NEW RULES FOR A CLEANER, GREENER LE MANS FUTURE

Cleaner, Greener, More Quiet. Welcome to motorsport in the 21st century. The Automobile Club de la Ouest (ACO) have unveiled the regulations for the 2011 Le Mans 24 hour race and associated series. According to the ACO the new rules have been drawn up in the context of sustainable development and respect for the environment. The ACO and the motor industry have concentrated on two aspects that are crucially important from their point of view: • An endurance race like the Le Mans 24 Hours must enable entrants to test new technologies. • The focus of the Le Mans 24 Hours must be aimed even more strongly towards both the reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. The most noticeable change will be new rules to both control and encourage energy recovery systems. Under the new rules the recovery and release of energy will be restricted to two wheels only (front or rear axle). Energy from the system may be stored using either electrical or mechanical systems. This will no doubt please Porsche whose flywheel based William F1 designed system has already been tested and proven in last months Nurburgring 24 hour race.

ZUHAI CONFIRMED AS ASIAN LE MANS VENUE

The ACO have confirmed that the Zhuhai circuit in China will be the venue for the third round of the new Le Mans Intercontinental Cup. The series which has already attracted entries from both Peugeot and Audi will start with the Silverstone1000 kms race in September before moving on to the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on the first weekend of October. The Zuhai race wil be held over the weekend of November 5-7. The 4.3 km circuit is situated in the Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China and is accessible to Hong Kong by a 70 minute Ferry ride. This should make the event popular with Australian motorsport fans who can base themselves in HongKong as well as with the growing band of race enthusiasts already living in the region. It'll be a busy month for motorsport in the region with the Macau Grand Prix on Nov 21 and the final round of the DTM in Shanghai a week later.

PEUGEOT ON TOP ON DAY ONE AT LE MANS

Peugeot dominated the time sheets after the first day of on-track action at Le Mans. The three works cars led by Sebastian Bourdais and the semi-works ORECA car set the fastest four times in qualifying with the first Audi R15+ the Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller car back in fifth place. Despite efforts by race organisers the ACO to level the playing field, diesel cars dominated with the first seven positions. Aston Martin led home the unofficial "petrol" division with the car of Mucke/Fernandez/Primat on top of the team's second car with the team of Turner/Hancock/Barazi. A surprise in P2 with the Staker HPD ARX of Watts/Kane/Leventis coming out on top of the Highcroft team HPD led by last years outright winner David Brabham.