Mighty fight expected at Le Mans this weekend

60 cars will line up for an epic battle at Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance race.

60 cars will line up for an epic battle at Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance race.

Published Jun 17, 2016

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Le Mans, France - The world’s most iconic motorsport endurance race takes place in France this weekend for the 84th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour, and the anticipation is that it will be the closest fight for many a year.

Overall victory was a straight tussle between Audi and Porsche for the last couple of years – Audi took it in 2014 and Porsche in 2015 – but Toyota looks poised to challenge the German hegemony when 60 cars line up on the Circuit de la Sarthe at 3pm on Saturday in front of 250 000 spectators. The three manufacturers will each field two cars this year.

After Audi’s recent dominance of the event (it’s taken victory in 13 of the last 16 races), Porsche won last year’s edition with its 919 petrol-electric hybrid after returning to Le Mans in 2014 and remains the most successful manufacturer with a record 17 overall wins. Toyota has fielded competitive cars since 2012 but victory has thus far eluded the Japanese manufacturer, a matter it aims to redress in 2016 with its faster new petrol-electric TS050 Hybrid car.

Toyota was the pace setter in last month’s 6 Hours of Francorchamps in Belgium, the second round of this year’s World Endurance Championship, and led the race comfortably before both its cars retired with mechanical problems. It handed victory to Audi with Porsche second.

Audi topped the Le Mans test held earlier this month with its all-new R18 diesel-electric hybrid, but less than two seconds a lap separated the top contenders in the flagship LMP1 category for purpose-built prototypes, setting up the prospect of an epic battle.

Lower down the order there will also be a very watchable tussle in the GTE categories for production-based sports cars, where interest will focus on the blue oval’s much-anticipated Le Mans comeback with its Ford GT. It is fielding four cars to fight against Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin.

The entire race will be screened live on SuperSport, and you can also follow it live on your smartphone by downloading the free 24H Le Mans App available from AppStore and Google Play.

Star Motoring

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