Weekend Motorsports Preview: Le Mans

This weekend is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and that is all you really need to know. Audi's Loïc Duval set a blazing qualifying time on Thursday night that because of a wet track on Friday was more than enough to give him the pole position for the race.

Other than Le Mans there is a NASCAR race, and the World Rally Championship Rally of Italy ends on Saturday, June 22.

24 Hours of Le Mans

The 800lb gorilla of motorsports this weekend is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the moment, it appears that AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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27 videos
has a fantastic opportunity to score a 1-2-3 finish, but it is a long race. ToyotaToyotaJapan, 1937 > present155 models
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has been significantly slower than Audi in qualifying, but the team claims that it has longer range than the Audi's, which could help it a little.

Audi qualified 1-2-3 in the race, and Toyota will start in fourth and fifth.

In the LMP2 class, the #24 OAK Racing MorganMorganUnited Kingdom, 1909 > present12 models
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-NissanNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
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led the pack. The #38 G-Drive Racing Oreca 03-NissanOreca Oreca 03 NissanFrance, 2011 > present2 photos
will start second, and the #43 Morand Racing Morgan-Nissan will start third.

Among the GT teams, Aston MartinAston MartinUnited Kingdom, 1914 > present62 models
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has been dominating through practice and qualifying. The #99 and #97 Aston Martins qualified first and second respectively in GTE-Pro. The #92 factory-supported PorschePorscheGermany, 1931 > present43 models
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will start from third.

For GTE-Am, the #95 and #96 Aston Martins will start in first and third respectively. The #88 Proton Competition Porsche will start in third.

You can view the entire qualifying results here.

Depending on your language, there are three great ways to watch the race this year. The official Le Mans website has live timing with video but with French commentary. It is the best way to follow all of the cars at once. Radio Le Mans has the best English-language commentary but do not have any video. Finally, Audi Live Racing will have German commentary with video.

If you are an English-speaker, your best way to listen to the race is probably to load the Radio Le Mans commentary and the official Le Mans live timing with video. Then mute the French audio.

The race begins at 3:00pm local time (1:00pm GMT or 9:00am ET).

NASCAR

NASCAR heads to one of the road courses on its schedule at Sonoma Raceway in California at 2:00pm on Sunday, June 23. The race covers 110 laps around the mile of the 1.99-mile configuration of the course.

Jimmie Johnson leads the championship with 538 points, and Carl Edwards is 31 points behind him.

World Rally Championship

The Rally of Italy in Sardinia finishes up on June 22. As of this writing, six stages have been completed. Sebastien Ogier is leading by 42.4 seconds over Mikko Hirvonen. Thierry Neuville is five seconds off of Hirvonen in third.