Le Mans News

Seiji Ara withstood the best that Johnny Herbert and Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx could throw at him during a wonderfully tense finish to the 72nd Le Mans 24 Hours as Tom Kristensen earned his record equalling sixth overall victory at La Sarthe.

By Andrew Cotton Sunday morning is traditionally the time when the Le Mans 24 hours result becomes a little clearer. Barring the truly cruel and unexpected circumstances, it is the dawn run that separates those who are likely to make it to the flag and those who will not.

The lead has changed at Le Mans, with the #88 Audi UK Team Veloqx entry, which had headed the field throughout the night, succumbing to the chasing Team Goh R8 while it underwent a cure for handling problems.

The 72nd Le Mans 24 Hours continued to provide an intriguing spectacle as it moved firmly into its second half and dawn broke over those who had made it through the night at La Sarthe.

Orbit Racing's 2004 Le Mans 24 Hour partnership with British American Motorsport (BAM) didn't come to the conclusion that either of the parties had hoped for when a gearbox failure put the #87 Porsche 911 GT3-RSR out of the race as dawn broke at La Sarthe.

In what has become a stunning Porsche battle for the LM GT title at the 24 Heures Du Mans, Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing currently sits in third, two laps out of the class lead despite dominating the opening half of the race.

Allan McNish will not take any further part in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours after suffering a concussion in his crash at the Porsche Curves two hours into the race.

Three hours into the 72nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #81 The Racers Group Porsche was running in 10th position in the GT class, after starting the race 14th in class and looking to continue its steady progress up the order.

The little 'works' Zytek 04S proved that its showing in the opening round of the new Le Mans Endurance Series at Monza was no fluke by taking the fight to the four customer Audis as the battle for pole position at the Le Mans 24 Hours warmed up nicely on Thursday evening.

A sensational lap of 3min 49.438secs from Prodrive's Czech driver Tomas Enge saw him claim Le Mans GTS pole position for the third consecutive year and set a new GTS pole record.

The 'green fuel' Nasamax team had something to prove in Thursday's final qualifying sessions for the Le Mans 24 Hours, having suffered gear ratio problems and a misfire in the two Wednesday sessions.

On the eve of the 72nd running of the Le Mans 24 hour race in France, leading motorsports website Crash.net has launched its very own Le Mans 24 hour racing bid.

By Andrew Cotton. Johnny Herbert emerged from the eight hours of qualifying for this year's Le Mans 24-hours with his first ever pole position in the French endurance classic.

Having seen a potential 1-2-3-4 result thwarted by Jan Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome in the opening two-hour session at Le Mans, Audi duly completed its rout by sweeping the top four times in Wednesday night practice.

Johnny Herbert blew the field away in the opening qualifying session for this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours, setting a lap of 3min 34.907secs to lead his nearest rival - the Team Goh Audi - by just over two seconds.

Motorsport engineering specialist Zytek has developed a new gearshift system for motor racing applications, and is aiming to use it to take the fight to pre-race favourites Audi at this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours.

RML managing director Ray Mallock will return to Le Mans as a driver for the first time since 1989, having taken the opportunity to get reacquainted with the Roger Bennington-owned Aston Martin Nimrod that his company helped to fettle.

Johnny Herbert has admitted that his decision to take to the grass to pass Audi team-mate Pierre Kaffer was risky but worth it as it effectively handed him victory in the opening Le Mans Endurance Series race at Monza.

Three fan favourites had to battle back after going off the road in open testing for the Le Mans 24 Hours, with Champion Racing, the combined Orbit/BAM effort and the factory Morgan team all needing to patch up their cars during the eight-hour session.

Jan Lammers' Racing for Holland team has pulled off possibly the coup of the pre-Le Mans season by confirming Formula One refugees Ralph Firman and Justin Wilson in its line-up for the 24 Hours.

Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing has confirmed that it will field three of Porsche's most successful drivers in the #90 911 GT3 RSR at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

RML have today [Friday] announced that Nathan Kinch will join the outfit for this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, linking up with Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos in the team's Lola MG Prototype. Kinch is familiar with Le Mans having tested and qualified for the race in 2003 with Lister Racing.

BMS Scuderia Italia's automatic entry into this year's Le Mans 24 Hours has been withdrawn by the team, which cited its focus on the FIA GT Championship as the main reason with dropping out.

RML has strengthened its sportscar division with the appointment of three highly-rated technical personnel, including the arrival of former Jordan F1 designer Gary Anderson.