Sportscars Features

Overall classification of the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours after 24 hours. Overall

Lawrence Tomlinson's Team LNT Panoz outfit could be on the verge of a historic GT2 class victory after mechanical problems stranded the class leading Seikel Porsche out on the track with just 90 minutes of the Le Mans 24 Hours remaining.

Audi's eerily quiet diesel-powered R10 has made history by becoming the first non-petrol powered car to win the world famous 24 Heures du Mans with a faultless run by the #8 R10 in its debut at the French classic with Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner scoring the emotional victory in f

The Russian Age Racing #61 Ferrari 550 Maranello, with the all British driver line-up of Nigel Smith, Tim Sugden and Christian Vann, was retired from the Le Mans 24 Hours in the ninth hour after a bizarre accident caused the engine to overheat.

Just three and a half hours into the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours and Tom Kristensen's bid for a seventh consecutive victory in the classic La Sarthe race could be over after his #7 Audi suffered a mysterious cut out problem.

Twenty three-year old French driver Yann Clairay has walked away from one of the most potentially disastrous accidents seen at Le Mans since Peter Dumbreck's infamous Mercedes flip in the late 1990's after suffering a tyre failure in his Paul Belmondo Courage.

The hot French temperatures is certainly taking its toll on the competing teams at Le Mans with more than half a dozen teams striking trouble in the opening 30 minutes of the race.

The IMSA Performance Matmut team should have been celebrating pole position in the GT2 class after qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours, but instead the team is left sweating on whether or not it will compete in the race after a heavy accident in the final qualifying session.

Rinaldo Capello was one of a number of drivers to be caught out by the conditions after an accident halted the challenge of the #7 Audi R10 during the opening qualifying sessions for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Dunlop has confirmed that it is to support young Briton Ed Morris in the Le Mans 24 Hours this coming weekend.

On Saturday 17 June, Audi will become the first major manufacturer to launch an assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours with a diesel powered car - and Michelin will play an important role in trying to help the R10 follow in the footsteps of the ultra successful R8.

Although he won't form part of the driver line-up, Scottish racer Alan Bonner is to again team up with Bill Binnie as the Binnie Motorsport team prepares to take on the Le Mans 24 Hours this coming weekend.

Dunlop, the most successful tyre supplier in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, is commemorating its renewed relationship with Jaguar by transporting the 1956 race winning Jaguar D-Type to Le Mans for a lap of honour before the 2006 race.

Creation Autosportif team boss Ian Bickerton didn't mince his words when asked to sum up his teams' Le Mans 24 Hours test day calling Sunday ?a day from hell.'

Creation Autosportif will look to build on its debut in the Le Mans 24 Hours when the British team returns to La Sarthe for the second time later this month.

Flying Lizard Motorsport are in France preparing for its second run the Le Mans 24 Hours, and following the team's recent win in the American Le Mans Series at Mid-Ohio, confidence his high ahead of the race on the 17 and 18 June.

Fresh from a stunning third place finish in the last round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Donington Park, Neil Cunningham is heading for Le Mans after securing a late call-up to the Barazi-Epsilon team.

Intersport Racing's Liz Halliday will make her second appearance at Le Mans this weekend for the official test, ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hour on the 17, 18 June in the LMP2 AER powered Lola.

Audi will be putting the new R10 TDi through its paces ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours race at the official test day on the 4th June at the famous 8.4 mile circuit in Central France.

Lola managed the impressive feat of securing all three steps of the podium in the LMP2 class at Spa Francorchamps' six hour, 1000km race at the weekend.

Pescarolo Sport made it two wins in a row in the Le Mans Series at Spa with drivers Jean-Christophe Boullion and Emmanuel Collard leading home the impressive Swiss Spirit car, competing in only its second ever Le Mans event.

Full qualifying times for the Spa 1000km.

Lister Storm Racing have confirmed their driver line-up for the first round of the Le Mans Series, which kicks off in Istanbul this weekend. A short statement from the squad read:

A new British squad will be cutting their teeth in the Le Mans Endurance Series this season after the newly-formed Team Modena announced that they will run an Aston Martin DBR9 in the GT1 class when the championship gets underway at Istanbul in April.