Hybrid Audi R18 e-tron quattro Takes Pole for 2012 Le Mans

Photo Credit: Audi Motorsport

Considered the most prestigious sports car race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is an event victory equally desired by drivers and auto manufacturers. One of the few venues where greats in auto racing drivers can pilot the newest in automotive technology prepped for motorsports. Bio-fuels, hybrid powerplants, and the radical super-lightweight DeltaWing race car have been brought to the Circuit de la Sarthe for the 2012 edition of the day-long competition. With a unique field of prototype race cars and a slew of diverse GT cars, qualifying for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans would be an interesting occasion to sample who could be the front-runners for the Saturday afternoon through Sunday race.

Claiming the first-ever pole for a hybrid prototype sports car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro was the vehicle that prevailed for the glorious front row starting spot for Saturday's day-long endurance event for LMP1. The #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro shared by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer took the top place by a slim 0.291-second advantage over the teammate #3 machine running the conventional TDI only R18 Ultra package.

The lead Audi R18 e-tron quattro was a second faster than the competing LMP1 brand competitor. Returning to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since 1999, Toyota debuts the TS 030 Hybrid prototype at the Le Mans race in a continuing pursuit for a first overall victory at the French event. The #8 Toyota featuring the driving combination of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin will start on the second row of the 24-hour race alongside the second Audi e-tron quattro.

Leading LMP2 in the 14th overall position, the #25 Oreca-Nissan starts 0.417 seconds ahead of the #24 Morgan-Judd. Lighter cars than LMP1 with smaller engines, the LMP2 class is often known to be the most difficult category for competitors to finish making the endurance component of 24 hours very pivotal to the victor of this class.

The most wide open GTE category at the 2012 Le mans 24-hour race features strong professional efforts from Ferrari, Chevrolet, Aston Martin and Porsche. The #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia took pole in the GTE class by 0.477 seconds over the #97 Aston Martin Vantage V8. Little more than half a second off the pace of the fastest Ferrari, the Corvette Racing group's #74 ZR1 sports car has sights set on reclaiming the GT class victory at the Le Mans race.

Running the race as an experimental entrant, the DeltaWing powered by Nissan was 29th fastest in qualifying outpacing four LMP2 cars.

Presenting a 56-car field, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is set to start at 3pm local time.


2012 FIA World Endurance Championship
24 Hours of  Le Mans
Le Mans, France
Qualifying Results

	Car #	Class	Drivers	Race Car
1	1	LMP1	Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer	Audi R18 e-tron quattro
2	3	LMP1	Romain Dumas, Loic Duval, Marc Gené	Audi R18 Ultra
3	8	LMP1	Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin	Toyota TS 030 - Hybrid
4	2	LMP1	Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish	Audi R18 e-tron quattro
5	7	LMP1	Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS 030 - Hybrid
6	4	LMP1	Marco Bonanomi, Oliver Jarvis, Mike Rockenfeller	Audi R18 Ultra
7	21	LMP1	Nick Leventis, Danny Watts, Jonny Kane	HPD ARX 03a - Honda
8	12	LMP1	Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani, Nick Heidfeld	Lola B12/60 Coupe - Toyota
9	13	LMP1	Andrea Belicchi, Harold Primat, Jeroen Bleekemolen	Lola B12/60 Coupe - Toyota
10	17	LMP1	Sébastien Bourdais, Nicolas Minassian, Seiji Ara	Dome - Judd
11	22	LMP1	David Brabham, Karun Chandhok, Peter Dumbreck	HPD ARX 03a - Honda
12	15	LMP1	Franck Montagny, Bertrand Baguette, Dominik Kraihamer	Oak Pescarolo - Judd
13	16	LMP1	Emmanuel Collard, Jean-Christophe Boullion, Stuart Hall	Pescarolo 03 - Judd
14	25	LMP2	John Martin, Jan Charouz, Tor Graves	Oreca 03 - Nissan
15	24	LMP2	Jacques Nicolet, Matthieu Lahaye, Olivier Pla	Morgan - Judd
16	26	LMP2	Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues, Roman Rusinov	Oreca 03 - Nissan
17	46	LMP2	Mathias Beche, Pierre Thiriet, Christophe Tinseau	Oreca 03 - Nissan
18	49	LMP2	Luis Perez Companc, Soheil Ayari, Pierre Kaffer	Oreca 03 - Nissan
19	48	LMP2	Jody Firth, Warren Hughes, Brendon Hartley	Oreca 03 - Nissan
20	35	LMP2	David Heinemeier Hansson, Bas Leinders, Maxime Martin	Morgan - Nissan
21	30	LMP2	Alexander Sims, Yelmer Buurman, Romain Ianneta	Lola - Judd
22	44	LMP2	Vincente Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel, Thomas Kimber-Smith	HPD ARX 03b - Honda
23	45	LMP2	Bastien Briere, Jens Petersen, Shinji Nakano	Oreca 03 - Nissan
24	42	LMP2	Lucas Ordoñez, Martin Brundle, Alex Brundle	Zytek Z11SN - Nissan
25	38	LMP2	Simon Dolan, Sam Hancock, Haruki Kurosawa	Zytek Z11SN - Nissan
26	23	LMP2	Franck Mailleux, Olivier Lombard, Jordan Tresson	Oreca 03 - Nissan
27	33	LMP2	Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut, Luis Diaz	HPD ARX 03b - Honda
28	41	LMP2	Christian Zugel, Ricardo Gonzalez, Elton Julian	Zytek Z11SN - Nissan
29	0	CDNT	Marino Franchitti, Michael Krumm, Satoshi Motoyama	DeltaWing Nissan
30	40	LMP2	Michel Frey, Jonathan Hirschi, Ralph Meichtry	Oreca 03 - Judd
31	31	LMP2	Thomas Holzer, Mirco Schultis, Luca Moro	Lola B12/80 Coupe - Lotus
32	28	LMP2	Fabien Giroix, Stefan Johansson, Ludovic Badey	Lola B12/80 Coupe - Nissan
33	43	LMP2	Fabien Rosier, Philippe Thirion, Philippe Haezebrouck	Norma MP 2000 - Judd
34	59	LMGTE Pro	Frédéric Makowiecki, Jaime Melo, Dominik Farnbacher	Ferrari 458 Italia
35	97	LMGTE Pro	Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mücke, Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage V8
36	74	LMGTE Pro	Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Richard Westbrook	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
37	71	LMGTE Pro	Andrea Bertolini, Olivier Beretta, Marco Cioci	Ferrari 458 Italia
38	73	LMGTE Pro	Jordan Taylor, Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
39	79	LMGTE Am	Seth Neiman, Patrick Pilet, Spencer Pumpelly	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
40	77	LMGTE Pro	Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz, Wolf Henzler	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
41	75	LMGTE Am	Abdulaziz Alfaisal, Bret Curtis, Sean Edwards	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
42	80	LMGTE Pro	Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Marco Holzer	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
43	99	LMGTE Am	Allan Simonsen, Christoffer Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen	Aston Martin Vantage V8
44	58	LMGTE Am	Pierre Ehret, Franck Montecalvo, Gunnar Jeannette	Ferrari 458 Italia
45	29	LMP2	Jean-Denis Deletraz, Keiko Ihara, Marc Rostan	Lola B12/80 Coupe - Nissan
46	88	LMGTE Am	Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
47	50	LMGTE Am	Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal, Pedro Lamy	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
48	66	LMGTE Pro	James Walker, Jonny Cocker, Roger Wills	Ferrari 458 Italia
49	51	LMGTE Pro	Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia
50	81	LMGTE Am	Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Nicola Cadei, Matt Griffin	Ferrari 458 Italia
51	67	LMGTE Am	Nicolas Armindo, Raymond Narac, Anthony Pons	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
52	61	LMGTE Am	Robert Kauffman, Rui Aguas, Brian Vickers	Ferrari 458 Italia
53	57	LMGTE Am	Tracy Krohn, Niclas Jonsson, Michele Rugolo	Ferrari 458 Italia
54	83	LMGTE Am	Manuel Rodrigues, Alain Ferte, Philippe Illiano	Ferrari 458 Italia
55	70	LMGTE Am	Jean-Philippe Belloc, Christophe Bourret, Pascal Gibon	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
56	55	LMGTE Am	Joël Camathias, Markus Palttala, Paul Daniels	Porsche 911 RSR (997)

Toyota Returning to Le Mans with Oreca Partnership

Photo Credit: Toyota Europe

Surging to the top of production car sales during the late 1990s, Japanese automaker Toyota attempted to secure the crown jewel in sports car endurance racing. In the 1997 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans race, Toyota’s GT-One prototype car appeared primed to celebrate motorsport’s greatest staple in durability. However, within 30 minutes of the race's completion, a mechanical problem suffered on the lead car cost the Japanese brand the right to claim a precious manufacturer victory. Attempting two more times to take the Le Mans 24-Hour event, Toyota gave up on their ambition for sports car racing supremacy at the famous French race for 12 years. In 2012, the prototype class will once again have a Toyota branded vehicle competing for top honours.

Displayed as a closed cockpit prototype, the rendering released on the new LMP1 sports car will be built at Toyota's technical and motorsport center in Cologne, Germany. Campaigning in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as select sports car events, the Toyota LMP1 car will be powered by a gasoline engine combined with hybrid technology. Toyota Motor Corporation experience in hybrid gas/electric powertrain technology in road cars will play a part in developing the brand new race car.

Unlike the last time where Toyota Motor Corporation set up a European racing operation (which later became the base for a Toyota Formula 1 program), the Japanese auto company has entered a partnership deal with Groupe Oreca for field cars through the 2012 World Endurance Championship of sports car racing rounds. President of Oreca Hugues de Chaunac boasted “It's a very big day for Oreca.” following the announced collaboration with Toyota. Making a household name of itself when it campaigned the Dodge Viper (known as the Chrysler Viper in European) through GT competition in the late 1990s, Oreca has been consistently involved with the prototype sports car categories. Oreca's most recent landmark triumph on the race track was an overall class victory at the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring where the group competed with a customer Peugeot 908 race car. In the American Le Mans Series' LMPC category, all race chassis structures are sourced from France's Groupe Oreca. Well-seasoned French sports car team Oreca is set to provide the operational support. (similar to the work Team Joest performs for Audi Sport’s Audi R18).

Testing for the new Toyota prototype sports car should be conducted over the winter. Along with more extensive details on the race vehicle, the driver line-up for the 2012 Oreca/Toyota team should be finalized at a later date.

2011 24 Hours of Le Mans Race Entry List

Photo Credit: Peugeot

LMP1

2011 regulations in the prototype category have caused major contenders Audi and Peugeot to reshape their vehicles to adhere to new safety as well as performance standards. For Team Joest Audi, the winning R15 Plus has been decommissioned in favour of the R18. A closed-cockpit vehicle, the Audi R18 is the first such prototype car campaigned by the team at Le Mans since the R8C in 1999. Aston Martin Racing also returns for a run at the 2011 24 Hour of Le Mans LMP1 podium.


1 AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST AUDI R18 TDI
Timo Berhard/ Germany
Romain Dumas/ France
Mike Rockenfeller/ Germany

2 AUDI SPORT TEAM JOESTAUDI R18 TDI
Marcel Fassler/ Switzerland
André Lotterer Germany
Benoit Treluyer France

3 AUDI SPORT NORTH AMERICA AUDI R18 TDI
Tom Kristenesn/ Denmark
Rinaldo Capello/ Italy
Allan McNish/ Monaco

5 HOPE RACING ORECA SWISS HY TECH-HYBRID
Steve Zacchia/ Switzerland
Jan Lammers/ Netherlands
Casper Elgaard/ Denmark

7 PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Anthony Davidson/ Great Britain
Marc Gene/ Spain
Alex Wurz/ Austria

8 PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Stéphane Sarrazin/ France
Franck Montagny/ Switzerland
Nicolas Minassian/ Great Britain

9 TEAM PEUGEOT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Sébastien Bourdais/ France
Simon Pagenaud/ France
Pedro Lamy/ Portugal

10 TEAM ORECA MATMUT PEUGEOT 908 HDI-FAP
Nicolas Lapierre/ France
Loic Duval/ France
Olivier Panis/ France

12 REBELLION RACING LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA
Nicolas Prost/ France
Neel Jani/ Switzerland
Jeroen Bleekemolen/ Netherlands

13 REBELLION RACING LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA
Andrea Belicchi/ Italy
J.Christophe Boullion/ France
Guy Smith/ Great Britain

15 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD
Guillaume Moreau/ France
Pierre Ragues/ France
Tiago Monteiro/ Portugal

16 PESCAROLO TEAM PESCAROLO JUDD
Emmanuel Collard/ France
Christophe Tinseau/ France
Julien Jousse/ France

20 QUIFEL - ASM TEAM ZYTEK 09 SC
Miguel Amaral/ Portugal
Olivier Pla/ France
Warren Hughes/ Great Britain

22 KRONOS RACING LOLA ASTON MARTIN
Vanina Ickx/ Belgium
Maxime MARTIN/ Belgium
Bas LEINDERS/ Belgium

24 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD
Richard Hein/ Monoco
Jacques Nicolet/ France
Jean-François Yvon/ France

007 ASTON MARTIN RACING ASTON MARTIN AMR-ONE
Stefan Mucke/ Germany
Darren Turner/ Great Britain
Christian Klien/ Austria

009 ASTON MARTIN RACING ASTON MARTIN AMR-ONE
Harold Primat/ Switzerland
Adrian Fernandez/ Mexico
Andy Meyrick/ Great Britian



LMP2

A lighter but generally slower class compared to the LMP1 category, the LMP2 can be either closed or open cockpit racing machines. Limited in power to supercharged 3.2 liter engines in the category, BMW, Nissan and Honda are powerplant suppliers.


26 SIGNATECH NISSAN ORECA 03-NISSAN
Soheil Ayari/ France
Franck Mailleux/ France
Lucas Ordonez/ Spain

33 LEVEL 5 MOTORSPORTS LOLA COUPE-HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT
Scott Tucker/ USA
Christophe Bouchut/ France
Joao Barbosa/ Portugal

35 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD BMW
Andrea Barlesi/ Belgium
Frédéric Da Rocha/ France
Patrice Lafargue/ France

36 RML HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT ARX 01 D
Mike Newton/ Great Britain
Tommy Erdos/ Great Britain
Ben Collins/ Great Britain

39 PECOM Racing LOLA B11/40-JUDD BMW
Luis Perez-Companc/ Argentina
Matias Russo/ Argentina
Pierre Kaffer/ Germany

40 RACE PERFORMANCE ORECA 03-JUDD BMW
Michel Frey/ Switzerland
Ralph Meichtry/ Switzerland
Marc Rostan/ France

41 GREAVES MOTORSPORT ZYTEK NISSAN
Karim Ojjeh/ Saudi Arabia
Thomas Kimber-Smith/ Great Britain
Olivier Lombard/ France

42 STRAKKA RACING HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT ARX 01 D
Nick Leventis/ Great Britain
Danny Watts/ Great Britain
Jonny Kane/ Great Britain

44 EXTREME LIMITE AM PARIS NORMA M200P - JUDD BMW
Fabien Rosier/ France
Philippe Haezbrouck/ France
Jean-René de Fournoux/ France

48 TEAM ORECA MATMUT ORECA 03-NISSAN
Alexandre Premat/ France
David Hallyday/ France
Dominick Kraihamer/ Austria

49 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - BMW
Shinji Nakano/ Japan
Nicolas De Crem/ Belgium
Jan Charouz/ Czech Republic


LME Pro

The LME (divided into Pro and Am categories) sets out the sole specifications for production-based vehicles at the 2011 edition of the Le Mans 24-hour race. With open and closed cockpit bodywork permitted, Ferrari, Chevrolet, BMW and Porsche are going to be involved in what has become a battle royale in the major sports car through the past decade.



51 AF CORSE FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Giancarlo Fisichella/ Italy
Gianmaria Bruni/ Italy
Toni Vilander/ Finland

55 BMW MOTORSPORT BMW M3 GT
Augusto Farfus/ Brazil
Jörg Muller/ Germany
Dirk Werner/ Germany

56 BMW MOTORSPORT BMW M3 GT
Andy Priaulx/ Great Britain
Dirk Muller/ Germany
Joey Hand/ USA

58 LUXURY RACING FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Anthony Beltoise/ France
Pierre Thiriet/ Belgium
François Jakubowski/ France

59 LUXURY RACING FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Stéphane Ortelli/ Monoco
Frédéric Makowiecki/ France
Jaime Melo/ Brazil

64 LOTUS JETALLIANCE LOTUS EVORA
Oskar Slingerland/ Germany
Martin Rich/ Great Britain
John Hartshorne/ Great Britain

65 LOTUS JETALLIANCE LOTUS EVORA
Jonathan Hirschi/ Switzerland
James Rossiter/ Great Britain
Johnny Mowlen/ Great Britain

66 JMW MOTORSPORT FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Rob Bell/ Great Britain
Tim Sugden/ Great Britain
Xavier Maasen/ Belgium

71 AF CORSE FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Robert Kauffman/ Italy
Michael Waltrip/ USA
Rui Aguas/ Portugal

73 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Olivier Beretta/ Monoco
Tommy Milner/ USA
Antonio Garcia/ Spain

74 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Oliver Gavin/ Great Britain
Jan Magnussen/ Denmark
Richard Westbrook/ Great Britain
NAT
75 PROSPEED COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Marc Goossens/ Belgium
Marco Holzer/ Germany
Jaap Van Lagen/ Netherlands

76 IMSA PERFORMANCE MATMUT PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Raymond Narac/ France
Patrick Pilet/ France
Nicolas Armindo/ France

77 TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Marc Lieb/ Germany
Richard Lietz/ Austria
Wolf Henzler/ Germany

79 JOTA ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE
Sam Hancock/ Great Britain
Simon Dolan/ Great Britain
Chris Buncombe/ Great Britain

80 FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Jörg Bergmeister/ Germany
Patrick Long USA
Lucas Luhr/ Germany

88 TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Nick Tandy/ Great Britain
Abdulaziz Al Faisal/ Saudi Arabia
Bryce Miller/ USA

89 HANKOOK - TEAM FARNBACHER FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Dominik Farnbacher/ Germany
Allan Simonsen/ Denmark
Leh Keen/ USA


LME Am (Amateur)

The LME Am category is separated from the Pro division mainly by the drivers. Allowed only a single driver deemed profession, the competition in LME Am is set-up to give lower cost operations a chance for glory at Le Mans. Similar in rules to the LME Pro category, the cars campaigned in LME Am class are required to be at least one year old.


50 LARBRE COMPETITION CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Patrick Bornhauser/ France
Julien Canal/ France
Gabriele Gardel/ Switzerland

57 KROHN RACING FERRARI F430
Tracy Krohn/ USA
Niclas Jonsson/ Sweden
Michele Rugolo/ Italy

60 GULF AMR MIDDLE EAST ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE
Fabien Giroix/ Argentina
Michael Wainwright/ France
Roald Goethe/ France

61 AF CORSE FERRARI F430
Pierguiseppe Perazzini/ Italy
Marco Cioci/ Italy
Sean Paul Breslin/ Germany

62 CRS RACING FERRARI F430
Pierre Ehret/ Germany
Roger Wills/ Great Britain
Shaun Lynn/ Great Britain

63 PROTON COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Horst Felbermayr Jr/ Austria
Horst Felbermayr Sr/ Austria
Christian Ried/ Germany

68 ROBERTSON RACING FORD GT-DORAN
David Robertson/ USA
Andrea Robertson/ USA
David Murry/ USA

70 LARBRE COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Christophe Bourret/ France
Pascal Gibon/ France
Jean-Philippe Belloc/ France

81 FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Seth Neiman USA Darren LAW/ USA
Spencer Pumpelly/ USA

83 JMB RACING FERRARI F430
Manuel Rodrigues/ France
Jean-Marc Menahem/ France
Nicolas Marroc/ France

24-Hour of Le Mans Weather Forecast

Photo Credit: Aston Martin Racing


Without stop for one full day, the most storied endurance sports car race will run the 13.65 kilometer Circuit de la Sarthe for its 78th time. With 56 cars expected to take green, those teams will find race preparations (which some like Audi were dedicated purely to Le Mans) will come down to chance. Mechanical and individual error could upset the entire work of one team, but weather could become a gauntlet for the entire sports car field.

Through past runnings of the 24-hour of Le Mans were made unforgettable by a solid rain shower sometime within the event. Inducing conditions which contributed to results class and even overall victories, the upcoming weather through the Saturday-Sunday within the French region is guaranteed to be a defining factor in 2010.


Weather Forecast for 2010 24-Hour of Le Mans (According to Weather.com)

Race Start (Approx. 2:22 P.M. Local Time): 23 degrees Celsius, 60% Chance of Rain
6-Hour Mark: 21 degrees Celsius, 40% Chance of Rain
12-Hour Mark: 12 degrees Celsius, mostly clear skies, only 10% Chance of Rain
18-Hour Mark: 12 degrees Celsius, sun with periods of cloud cover, 10% Chance of Rain
Race End: 21 degrees Celsius, cloud cover


For this year, expect another unsettled 24-hour run. Creating a challenge for drivers and crews, the rain in France will demonstrate the loyalty of the embedded Le Mans spectators. For fans at least, umbrella's and rain ponchos will be common wear for the first half but could be discarded as the race nears completion.

Peugeot on Pole for 24 Hours of Le Mans

Photo Credit: Audi USA

On a June, Saturday afternoon in France, more than 200 kilometers outside of the country's epicenter of Paris, the city of Le Mans becomes the center of motorsports for the 24-hour of Le Mans. Started in 1923, the race is now an treasured prized by drivers but also auto manufacturers. Last year's win by Peugeot over the Audi Sport Team Joest juggernaut was one example where the auto companies crave the honour of being the first car across the line after 24 hours.

In qualifying for the great endurance race, last year's overall winning manufacturer again bettered Audi. To the concern delight of the French crowd, the Peugeot prototypes swept the top four spots to lead the 2010 endurance event led by the driver pairing of Sébastien BOURDAIS, Pedro LAMY and Simon PAGENAUD in the #3 Peugeot 908.

Returning this to Circuit de la Sarthe year with a revised they call the Audi R15 Plus, Audi Sport Team Joest are stationed directly behind the French auto maker's efforts with their three-car effort in the 2010 Le Mans event. Looking to position their Audi R15 within the same winning circle where the R8 and R10 inhabited for eight 24-Hour of Le Mans races last decade, Audi has little concern about being outpaced during the qualifying runs. Predicting to find the edge within the 24 hour race, Team Joest is banking on the fuel mileage of their TDI engine and tire durability as sending their vehicles further between fuel stops.

Adding themselves as a darkhorse again for Le Mans success is Aston Martin Racing delivering two Lola chassis cars to 8th and 9th. Little more than 3 seconds slower than the third Audi R15 Plus, the gasoline-fueled Aston Martin engines are no less a legitimate third factory effort in prototype.

As a remaining protoype notable, the #12 Rebellion Racing car driven by Marco Andretti, Neel Jani and Nico Prost will start16th overall for the event.

The wildly diverse production-based GT2 class saw a qualifying at Le Mans resulted in action during and after the session. 2008 and 2009 Le Mans class winning team Risi Competizione flew to pole ahead of the Corvette racing pair. The #82 Ferrari F430GT in the hands of Gianmaria Bruni posted the fast lap around the Circuit de la Sarthe only to have it taken away in post race scrutineering. The class leading time was disallowed when an issue with the #82 vehicle's rear wing was found. With the #82 Ferrari dropped to 12th in GT2, Corvette Racing's #64 leads the #63 team in the class.

Leaving 2011, the current GT1 category will run their final 24 Hour of Le Mans race. With the Chevrolet Corvette C6R running GT2, the slighter faster GT1 cars were led by the Young Drivers Aston Martin Racing contending with a DBR9.