Backstretch Motorsports

Sports car racing fans have given the annual 24 hours of their lives , dedicated to the grandfather of competition. the twice-around-the-clock excitement, splendor and accomplishment that is Le Mans.

The 77th race took place in front of a crowd of 234 800 spectators, down from the 2008 figure by around 9% (which set a record-beating figure of 258 500 spectators). [read more...]

2009 becomes the year of the long waited victory for the #9 Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP and its drivers, all ex-Formula One drivers, David Brabham (whose brother Gary won with Peugeot 16 years ago), Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz (who won here in 1996 on his debut).

The French racing team Peugeot Sport located at Vélizy-Villacoublay is directed by Olivier Quesnel, with Bruno Famin as technical manager and Serge Saulnier as team manager. [read more...]

Benoit Treluyer returned to the circuit after a change of nosecone and engine cover and then had a very bad crash at the Esses de la Chapelle. Safety car,fire and ambulance have been sent out by the Clerk of the Course.
Benoit has been taken to the Medical Centre.

He has been driven to the medical centre. The Clerk of the Course ,Daniel Poissenot goes to the Pescarolo garage to reassure Henri Pescarolo and all his team. [read more...]

Corvette C6.Rs Two Minutes Apart after 12 Hours

LE MANS, France, June 14, 2009 – After 12 hours of racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Corvette Racing’s Corvette C6.Rs were running like clockwork, separated by 1 minute and 59 seconds. At 3 a.m., the No. 63 Compuware Corvette C6.R of Jan Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell and Antonio Garcia maintained its lead in the GT1 class over the No. 64 Compuware Corvette C6.R driven by Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Marcel Fassler. The class-leading Corvette had completed 177 laps at the halfway point of the race.
[read more...]

Corvettes Lead GT1 at Six-Hour Mark in Le Mans

Routine Race So Far for Corvette Racing; Safety Cars Play Key Role in First Quarter of Race

LE MANS, France, June 13, 2009 – A quartet of Corvettes took control of the GT1 class in the first six hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No. 63 Compuware Corvette C6.R of Jan Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell, and Antonio Garcia has led from the start at 3 p.m., completing 88 laps at the six-hour mark. The No. 64 Compuware Corvette C6.R of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta, and Marcel Fassler was second in the GT1 class, 2 minutes and 6 seconds behind its sister car. The No. 73 and No. 72 Corvette C6.Rs of Luc Alphand Aventures were third and fourth respectively with 86 laps completed. [read more...]

The three factory Aston Martin LMP1 cars have ended the first three hours of the 77th Le Mans 24 Hours in fifth, sixth and 25th places respectively. With evening drawing in, Tomas Enge occupies fifth place in 007, Jos Verstappen is sixth in 008 and Peter Kox is 25th in 009.

Stefan Mucke started the race at 3pm in 007 from eighth place and stayed in the car for a triple stint, despite extremely warm temperatures at the start of the race. The German driver made excellent progress, stopping only for fuel and tyres as scheduled before handing over to Tomas Enge at 5:20pm. The car encountered no problems apart from a minor glitch with the radio. [read more...]

Franck Montagny still leads the race with the #8 Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP followed by the sister works car #9 driven by Marc Gene. The #1 and #2 Audis are next up. Mention should be made also of the quick laps (with a best of 3′27.500) of the Pescarolo #17 driver Simon Pagenaud and the good showing of the first petrol-powered cars, the #007 and #008 Aston Martins in the 5th and 6th places just 2 laps behind the leading car.

First in LM P2 is the #31 Essex Porsche RS Spyder, in 14th place overall. The second LM P2 is the #5 Navi Team Goh Porsche RS Spyder in 16th place and third is the #33 Speedy Racing team Sebah Lola driven by Xavier Pompidou.
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Peugeot #8 is firmly in control after 3 hours of racing, followed by the sister # 9 908 FPi , leading all 59 laps so far.

First Retirement - #68 Lamborghini Murcielago

After many problems during the test and qualifying sessions and the warm up, the Lamborghini entered by JLOC officially announced their retirement at 3.20 PM due to an engine problem. [read more...]

The diesels of Peugeot and Audi are sandbagging? David Brabahm has said that two of the three Peugeots are running track set-up the third depending on fuel-load tire wear set up.

The Aston Martin drivers like Jos Verstappen believes the leading diesels have not yet shown their true pace. [read more...]

Stéphane Sarrazin really wanted this pole position, probably more than Peugeot who were more focused on finding the best possible set up for the race itself. The crew of the #8 car, Frenchmen Sarrazin, Bourdais and Montagny, weren’t hiding their ambition tonight to win the race, having failed twice before. The rest of the Peugeot squad will be starting from third, fourth and fifth positions on the grid. [read more...]