24 Hours of Le Mans & Weekend Motorsport Preview

The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2012. The biggest race of the year is here and if that doesn’t fill your needs there is even more exciting motorsports ahead this weekend.

Lets start with the FIA World Endurance Championship. The year started with the news that Toyota would join the fold, while Peugeot would leave. This left Audi in a position of being undeniable favourites, and so far their R18 ultra and eTron racers have been far and away the class of the field. Now though, we see just how much Toyota have put into this project, and we pray that it shall not end up like Aston Martin….

In LMP2, three teams are the ones to watch. ADR Delta with their Oreca-Nissan, OAK Racing with their Morgan LMP2 and Starworks Motorsport with their Honda. These three are leading the LMP2 championship, and have all been on the first or second step of the podium.

In the GTE Pro class it will be even harder to guess a winner, with AF Corse (Ferrari), Felbermayr-Proton (Porsche), Aston Martin and Corvette all leading the push for the win. Corvette aren’t part of the WEC either, so expect the unexpected.

The same four manufacturers also make up the GTE Am class, with the notable entrant being a second Aston Martin works entry. They (the team) have past experience of winning, so watch them closely. Last, but definately not least, the Delta Wing project will also take on the 24 hours, and with pace solidly in the LMP2 entries, it may have to work hard too.

24 Hours of Le Mans Qualifying Results:
1. No.1 Audi R18 eTron (LMP1)
2. No.3 Audi R18 ultra (LMP1)
3. No.8 Toyota TS030 (LMP1)
4. No. 2 Audo R18 eTron (LMP1)
5. No.7 Toyota TS030 (LMP1)
14. No.25 ADR-Delta Oreca 03-Nissan (LMP2)
29. Delta Wing
34. No.59 Luxery Ferrari 458 GTC (GTE Pro)
39. No.79 Flying Lizard Porsche 997 GT3-RSR (GTE Am)

This entire weekend the RaceDepartment community will gather in the annual Le Mans 24 Hours thread on the forum. If you would like to participate in the heated debates go directly to the World Endurance Championship forum.

MotoGP

The biggest championship on two wheels returns to Silverstone for the British MotoGP. Jorge Lorenzo will be looking to continue to extend his lead of the championship and take it to 3 victories in a row for him. Honda riders Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa will be looking to upset that streak, and watch out again for Cal Crutchlow, now at his home GP.

Indycar

News emerged that the Chinese round of the championship was canceled. This is true, but Indycar are looking for a replacement race meanwhile. And aside from that, there will be racing this weekend! The championship moves on to Milwaukee, where we will see drama before the lights go green, championship leaders Will Power and Scott Dixon both will be penalised 10 spots in qualifying for changing the engine, while Justin Wilson, winner of the last round, will join them too. So expect the unexpected, the shorter mile long course will throw up a surprise or two.

NASCAR

After his win at Pocono last weekend, Joey Logano is happy to be a winner again, but he must first get past Michigan, with 42 other drivers trying to get past him. But for the second week running, the drivers are up against a repaved surface. With that in mind, watch out for a lot of carnage in the race, for a already quick race track has only become a lot quicker. Watch too Matt Kenseth, teammate Greg Biffle, fan-favourite Dale Earnhardt Jr. and past champion Jimmie Johnson to all be right up there.

V8 Supercars

The V8′s roar into Australia’s top end, Darwin, for the 6th round of the season. Ford Performance Racing is looking to take an eighth straight victory for this season, and is hoping that drivers Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom can pull out a gap to Jamie Whincup. Meanwhile, watch out for Rick Kelly especially, who took a victory here last year for him and his team, and as always the Holden Racing Team will be up there no doubt.

(Image: TMG)