The 79th Le Mans 24 Hours

Peugeot's starting drivers will be #9 Sebastian Bourdais, #8 Franck Montagny and #7 Alex Wurz. No pressure on them then...

Darren Turner settled in to the #007 Aston Martin AMR-One. Things haven't gone well for the team this week and the race will be something of an exercise in measured expectations.

#2 Audi, the pole car, has just silently rolled past on its way to the grid. Most of the cars are in position now.

Grandstands filling up in front of the pits now. Loads of airhornes blowing for local hero Hughes de Chanac, the team principal of ORECA, as he walks up the grid.

Weather-wise, it's not looking too bad for the race this year. Today started off dry, but somewhat cloudy with a brisk north-westerly breeze. It will remain dry this afternoon as a narrow ridge of high pressure moves up from the south-west, with temperatures reaching 16 degrees.

With the high in place, largely clear skies are set for the evening and overnight, allowing temperatures to drop considerably - perhaps as low as low as six or even five Celsius. It will feel bitterly cold towards dawn on Sunday morning.

However, a weak 1000 millibar low pressure system is on the move and will hit the French coast in the morning. It will turn progressively cloudy over the circuit and showers are expected shortly before midday - and could provide a spectacular end to the race.

Just under half an hour to go now...

Several cars arriving on the grid now. Both Corvettes including our picture diarist @OliverGavin now lined up.

Having completed an installation lap, the field is now trickling down the pitlane so that they can go and do another one! All except for the #22 Kronos Aston Martin Lola which has gone to the grid.

All the drivers behaved themselves and ran across the track having been told on strict instructions to take it seriously in the pre-event briefing, apparently.

The cars will complete the lap and form up in grid order, with the start still over half an hour away.

Q3

Audi locked out the front row of the grid for the Le Mans 24 Hours, as Benoit Treluyer seized pole for the #2 R18 with an opportunistic lap 40 minutes from the end.

Peugeot tried to respond but its drivers' efforts were ultimately thwarted by traffic, leading to an incredibly close finish as the top six were covered by less than six tenths of a second.

Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller in the #1 Audi grabbed second, with third being claimed by the Simon Pagenaud/Sebastien Bourdais/Pedro Lamy Peugeot 908.

Pole position in the LMP2 class was claimed by the Signatech ORECA-Nissan of Franck Mailleux, Lucas Ordonez and Soheil Ayari, while in GTE Pro Augusto Farfus/Jorg Muller/Dirk Werner put the #55 BMW M3 GT on pole by almost half a second.

Treluyer takes pole for Audi

Everyone is leaving the grid now as the cars set off following the ceremonial running across the track from the drivers.

Sebastian Bourdais put Peugeot on top in Saturday morning's warm-up, the final session before the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Audi had set the pace for much of the session, with polesitter Benoit Treluyer again in spectacular form, only for Bourdais to snatch top spot with a 3m27.228s lap as the session ended.

Peugeot's Bourdais leads warm-up

Perhaps that's because this will be his last one before handing the reigns over completely to Jens Marquardt

Q2

Marcel Fassler put Audi on provisional pole in the penultimate qualifying session, denying Peugeot glory in dramatic fashion.

Having set the pace in first qualifying, Stephane Sarrazin was in sensational form and looked to have kept Peugeot on top with a 3m36.156s, only for Fassler to best his time just moments later.

Andy Priaulx caused the only major incident of note as he crashed at the Ford chicane, apparently having run over some debris and lost purchase. The #56 BMW M3 GT ended third fastest in the GTE Pro class, behind the #51 Ferrari 458 Italia and its sister #55 BMW.

Fassler takes Audi provisional pole

The field begins to peel away for the first lap around the circuit.

Engines begin to fire before the cars head off on a formation lap.

Q1

Peugeot set the pace in Wednesday's two-hour qualifying practice session, as Stephane Sarrazin snatched provisional pole with a sensational late effort.

That put the Peugeot 908 more than 0.9s clear of the three Audis, which had looked set to lock out the top three after pushing hard early on when track conditions were optimal.

Traffic was an issue during the session, hampering both camps as they tried to improve their times. The #1 Audi was also caught out by a stationary Gulf AMR Aston Martin Vantage at the Mulsanne kink, with the resulting accident causing a red-flag.

Peugeot's Sarrazin on provisional pole

Having said that, out-going BMW Motorsport director Dr Mario Theissen is looking fairly chilled out down on the grid in front of our position in the press box.

General feeling of tension in the air here at Le Mans. Everyone seems a bit more nervous than usual, perhaps it's because this year it's too close to call in every class.

Audi scored the first blow in Wednesday's four-hour first practice, emerging with a 1-2 finish following a frantic end to the session as they traded fastest times with Peugeot.

Mike Rockenfeller topped the timesheets with a best effort of 3m27.986s in the closing stages, which demoted team-mate Andre Lotterer into second.

Peugeot remained in the hunt however, finishing third, fourth and sixth. Sebastian Bourdais went fastest for the French marque, as final run on fresh rubber moved him to within six tenths of the ultimate best.

The session was red-flagged for 18 minutes after a heavy crash for the #76 IMSA Performance Porsche 911, which dislodged the end of the tyre wall in the first section of the Porsche curves.

Rockenfeller puts Audi top in practice

The ‘Herringbourne’ start was re-introduced to the pre-race ceremony last year as a poignant mark to a bygone era.

Between 1925 and 1969, the drivers would run across the track, quickly jump into their cars and speed off into the distance to signal the beginning of the race.

All drivers and team members in this year’s edition have walked over to the grandstand side of the track to recreate this magical moment. Firstly, the two non-starting drivers and the team members walked across the track to the pitlane to be with the cars.

Then, a short time ago, the 55 starting drivers proudly walked across the circuit to immense applause and cheers from the crowd. The drivers now have seven minutes to get bolted into their cars before the pitlane opens.

Drivers sprint across and are now getting comfortable in their cars before setting off on the laps to form up.

The French national anthem is played, concluded with applause from the huge crowd opposite the pits.

The starting drivers are all lined up on the opposite side of the circuit to the cars, ready to make the dash across to the racing machines.

IMC

Two Intercontinental Le Mans Cup events have taken place in 2011. In April the teams headed to the Paul Ricard test track for a six-hour endurance event, with many outfits using the race as a test session for the big one.

Sportscar legend Henri Pescarolo's team triumphed in a spectacular race, coming from the back of the grid to take the lead in fewer than 20 laps and then maintaining position for the remainder of the six hours. The Rebellion Lola-Toyota of Jean-Christophe Boullion and Andrea Belicchi finished second, just one lap down, while in LMP2 the Greaves Zytek-Nissan and Pecom Lola-Judd finished on the same lap in first and second respectively.

Pescarolo makes glorious return

The Spa 1000 kms took place in May and was billed as a full dress rehearsal for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Three works Peugeot 908s joined three Audis at one of the world's best circuits.

The French marque emerged with an impressive 1-2 victory, as Alex Wurz, Marc Gene and Anthony Davidson led home the sister 908 of Stephane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny and Nicolas Minassian. Audi finished third, fourth and fifth, with the top car of Alan McNish, Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen finishing a lap down on the lead.

Peugeot wins Spa 1000km

JTF

On the right of the screen we have a panel of features to keep you informed throughout the race. Flags denoting the track status, class leaders and current weather at the circuit will all update live as the race unfolds.

We would also like you to join the fun throughout the event and post your thoughts and opinions on the action, via the red 'SHOW LIVE FORUM' bar at the bottom of the screen.

• Will it be Peugeot or Audi that takes the honours this time tomorrow?

• Can BMW triumph over the field of GTE Porsches and Ferraris?

• How will Aston Martin fare with its AMR-One?

• How do you plan to 'attack' the race? Will you be watching the event from start to finish or looking in on the action now and again?

Tell the world what you think.

Themes

Peugeot versus Audi is once again the big show in terms of outright victory in the LMP1 class. The last three years have produced fantastic duels between them for supremacy and it looks like more of the same this year, with just over half a second covering the top six cars on the grid.

A healthy LMP2 field sees Strakka's HPD take on the various Oreca, Zytek and OAK Pescarolos in another class that has provided close scraps in recent years.

GTE Pro is the sharp end of the revised GT classes this year. BMW take on the Corvettes, Ferraris and Porsches, with the all-new M3 GT setting a strong qualifying pace and looking to be the car to beat if either can go the distance.

GTE Am features similar cars but with some gentlemen racers among the ranks of some quick men.

56 cars will start today - the largest field since 1955. The ingredients are all in place, ready to be mixed together over the next 25 hours.

The race itself will begin as the cars cross the start-finish line at precisely 13:00 GMT, but before then we will set the scene with a review of the track sessions so far this week, look at the weather forecast for the race and an invitation to all of you to join in with your comments during the race.

Le Mans

Every year in early June, the focus of the motor racing world switches to a small town in north-west France.

This is no ordinary race - it is a supreme test of skill, strategy, reliability and engineering. For almost everyone involved - be it team bosses, mechanics, drivers or the millions of fans watching around the globe, it's a test of stamina.

Since 1923 the world's premier car manufacturers have pitted their wits against each other, racing for hour after hour around the hallowed 13.6km Circuit de la Sarthe. Great marques such as Audi, Peugeot, Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, Ford and Lamborghini will face off against each other in one full day of combat.

At the end of the race, the best sportscar drivers and teams in the world will celebrate on the podium, while others will face setbacks and disappointments, but will keep the desire to come back and have a crack at the world's most prestigious race next year.

Welcome everyone to the 79th 24 Heures du Mans.