Sportscars Race Reports

After a successful opening season of racing in 2004, the Le Mans Endurance Series looks set for a bumper entry this season - with 37 cars already confirmed for the entire five race series.

The increasingly ambitious RML sportscar team has appointed Alastair MacQueen as race and development engineer to oversee on its Le Mans and Le Mans Endurance Series campaigns.

British based Creation Autosportif racing team have recently received conformation that it has been awarded one of the prestigious 2005 Le Mans entries for its DBA 03S-Judd prototype.

As one of the driver for the Tracsport team, Rick Pearson is a regular contributor to Crash.net in the teams monthly 'Tracsport Talkback' column.

Le Mans Endurance Series organisers have now announced that the provisional fifth date on the LMES calendar will be filled by a race in Turkey. The event in Istanbul will be the final round of the 2005 LMES season and is due to be held on 15/16 October.

Creation Autosportif will use Judd power in their DBA4-03S prototype sportscar in 2005. A deal has just been completed whereby Engine Developments will be providing the Bicester-based team with their XV V8 engines plus trackside engineering support.

Binnie Motorsports recently announced the acquisition of a new Lola LMP-2 B05/40. The car will be powered by a Nicholson-McLaren normally aspirated V-8 and the team hope to successfully take part in the Le mans 24 hours.

Creation Autosportif has retained the services of super-quick Anglo-French duo Jamie Campbell-Walter and Nicolas Minassian for its 2005 campaign, which is expected again combine the Le Mans Endurance and American Le Mans series.

Double FIA GT Championship winners, BMS Scuderia Italia, have finalised an agreement with Care Racing Development to campaign two of its Prodrive-developed Ferrari 550 Maranellos in the GT1 category of the 2005 Le Mans Endurance Series.

David Brabham has joined his fellow Prodrive driver Darren Turner in praising the new Aston Martin DBR9 Le Mans racer that is set to debut in GT racing in 2005.

Despite three highly successful years spent competing in sportscar championships across Europe and the USA, Veloqx Motorsport has been forced to announce that it will not be in action in 2005.

On the same day that he and Mark Blundell revealed that they were to mount an assault on the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours, Martin Brundle visited Aston Martin's headquarters in the UK to see the unveiling of the car the two Britons hope to run in the French classic.

Le Mans is right there alongside Monaco, Monza and the Nurburgring as one of the top circuits in motorsport, a venue where drivers dream of racing in one of the most famous races that there is.

The Tracsport team has had an amazing year, jumping from Caterham racing into the thick of the action in the Le Mans Endurance Series.

Jamie Davies and Johnny Herbert claimed the Le Mans Endurance Series LMP1 title with victory in the fourth and final round of the season at Spa Francorchamps.

The Audi R8 continues to write motorsport history after the most successful Le Mans prototype of all time celebrated its 50th victory in the 1000km of Spa-Francorchamps.

Team Nasamax failed to finish the final event of the LMES season after a bizarre incident saw the bio-ethanol powered Nasamax Judd crash out of the 1000km of Spa.

It was a dramatic start to the Spa 1000k for the No.8 Audi of Pierre Kaffer and Allan McNish. Just twenty laps in the Veloqx R8 made contact with the RSR Racing TVR being driven by Jonny Kane. The TVR was out, and a flaming Audi returned to the pits...

1. Kaffer/McNish Audi UK Veloqx Audi R8 2min 13.818secs 2. Davies/Herbert Audi UK Veloqx Audi R8 2min 15.593secs 3. Ara/Capello Team Goh Audi R8 2min 15.602secs

Although encouraged by its fifth place performance in the third round of the Le Mans Endurance Series at Silverstone last month, Team Nasamax is determined to find greater pace for this weekend's fourth and final outing in Belgium.

British GT Championship contender Adam Sharpe will compete in this weekend's Le Mans Endurance Series Spa 1000kms driving the Salisbury Motorsports TVR alongside Steve Hyde and team regular John Hartshorne.

Last weekend British motor racing fans were treated to the sights and sounds of Le Mans, as the LMES came to Britain.

John Ingram Jr believes that the Tracsport team can put the disappointment of their home race behind them as the small outfit continues to work towards its dream of an entry into the Le Mans 24 hours.

1. Kaffer/McNish Audi UK Veloqx Audi R8 195 laps 2. Ara/Capello Team Goh Audi R8 + 1 lap 3. Davies/Herbert Audi UK Veloqx Audi R8 + 2 laps 4. Dyson/Kerr Zytek Zytek-Zytek + 3 laps