Preview of the 2011 Petit Le Mans, Only Chance to See Audi R18 Race in the US this Year

If you are tired of watching Sebastian Vettel dominate race after race in Formula 1 and seeing the same teams win over and over, maybe you should tune into Petit Le Mans this weekend. How about 58 cars racing over 2.54 miles for 1000 miles?

This weekend will be the 14^th running of the Petit Le Mans. The race started in 1998, and in 1999 became one of the races in the inaugural American Le Mans season. The race takes place at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. It is a 1,000 mile race or 10 hours, whichever occurs first. It is also the final race in the American Le Mans series each year.

Road Atlanta is 2.54 miles long. It consists of 12 corners with a fast, gently curving back straight. The actual course is located on the top of a large hill and has a decent amount of elevation change. This year the fastest cars' times have been in the one minute and eight second range. The overall track record is 1:06.242 set by Stephane Serrazin in a Peugeot in 2008.

Last year the it became one of two races in the Intercontinental Cup that take place in the US. The Intercontinental Cup tries to unify the ACO's disparate sports car series into a single championship by awarding points This year the cup comprises seven races: 12 Hours of Sebring, the 1000km of Spa, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a six hour race at Imola, the 1000km of Silverstone, Petit Le Mans and a 1000km race in Zhuhei, China.

There are 58 cars entered in this year's race: 13 in the LMP1 class, 5 in LMP2, 19 in GT, 6 in GTE AM, 8 in LMPC and 7 in GTC.

The Audi and Peugeot rivalry will certainly be the thing to watch. This year's race will be the only opportunity to see the Audi R18 compete on American soil. Audi is bringing two R18s with a total of six drivers. Peugeot has won the race the last two years in a row, and so far it has been fastest in testing this year. Audi will have to do a lot to challenge its domination of the course.

The Honda-powered HPD LMP2 cars sponsored by Microsoft will be the favorites in their class against the Nissan-powered Oreca and Judd-powered Pescarolos.

Things get a little more confusing in the GT-class because since this race is part of the Intercontinental Cup and part of the American Le Mans series, it counts as points for both. Technically, Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller and BMW Team RLL have already won the American Le Mans series, but the two drivers are now driving for BMW Motorsport. Since the ream has already won the American championship in this car, they will certainly be a force in Georgia.

The big fight in GT-class will be among the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche, Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia and the Team Falken Porsche. Just eight points separate them in the American Le Mans series.

Unfortunately, the LMPC and GTC classes are just there to fill up the field. That is not disrespect to the teams in those classes, but unlike the rest of the cars, they are based on spec-chassis and engines. The LMPCs use an Oreca chassis and Chevrolet LS-series engine, and the GTC class is made up of Porsche GT3 Cup cars.

Watching the 2011 Petit Le Mans in the US is somewhat of a challenge. The race will be streamed on ESPN3 in the US starting at 11:15am Eastern Time on October 1. However, configuring ESPN3 to work can be slightly difficult. The race will also be broadcast on ABC at 4pm on October 2. However, this will be an edited version of the race that makes a 10 hour race into two hours.

If you live outside the US, your options are much broader. American Le Mans will stream the race to anyone outside of the US on its web site. Eurosport will also be broadcasting parts of the race, but the times vary from country to country.