One year ago the race for GT2 at Sebring came down to a final lap battle between Porsche and Ferrari. It was spectacular! The 2008 event in less than two days promises at least as many surprises and a lot more variety.

The big news this year: two diesels, the Peugeot 908 and Audi R10, battle for the overall victory; Porsche and Acura will go toe to toe in LMP2; Aston Martin returns to challenge Corvette; and GT2 will feature seven different manufacturers: Porsche, Ferrari, Panoz, Corvette, Aston Martin, Dodge, Ford.

The buildup has been immense for months with rumors circulating that the French Peugeot team would make an appearance along with a factory Aston Martin effort, and possibly the long awaited Ford GT. This will also be the first outing of the GT2 spec Corvette C6 which has been a particular hit on YouTube with early testing videos posted in the months leading up to its debut.

Coverage began earlier this week on Radio Le Mans which is available on the Internet. Race day coverage begins at 9:30am Saturday on SPEED TV and XM satellite radio. In the mean time you can catch up on last seasons action via the American Le Mans website

I'm not a huge fan of the Rolex series but few sports car fans can ignore the Daytona 24. The 2008 event promises to be an all-star event, as usual. This year features extended coverage offered on a newly redesigned Grand Am website. New additions for the year include two live video feeds as well as the venerable live timing and scoring. You can also tune into the broadcast on Speed TV, which will air 15.5 hours of live coverage.

Advanced Live Timing

Organization claims future events not in danger, but I wouldn't be so sure

I was as surprised as anyone when I read the news that the 2008 Dakar Rally was canceled due to security threats. A short article on the rally website informed readers that the event had been canceled as a result of a threat from Al Qaeda. The article cited an incident in which several British tourists were targeted as validation that the threat is real.

Simply put this was a tough call to make, especially only a few days before the event was scheduled to take place. On one hand I can understand the organizer's security concerns given the sheer desolation of much of the route. On the other hand racers acknowledge the risks and accept much of the responsibility of staying safe. In all honesty the race promoters have more a responsibility toward keeping the spectators safe than toward individual competitors.

What further strikes me as odd is that the event is popular enough for Al Qaeda to take an interest. Outside of certain parts of Europe the Dakar rally is more the interest of diehard motor sport fans than mass audiences. To further complicate matters much of the rally occurs beyond the eyes of television cameras. It would be very difficult for Al Qaeda to stage a spectacular attack, which would make the desired statement whilst the race's competitors wander around in the Mauritanian desert.

While I don't doubt that some band of marauders would threaten individuals or the entire encampment, I strongly doubt that Al Qaeda proper is behind the recent threat. That said I don't believe that the organizers were wrong to cancel the event, though I hesitate to think of the reality that given regional turmoil 2007 might be the last rally for some time to come.

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The 24 Hours of Le Mans has come to a close and once again Audi has taken top honors. It was anything but easy and the winning R10 was the lone survivor of the event. The Peugeot camp fought hard but ultimately the long hours and occasional off track excursions would take their toll. An American team Binnie Motorsports, which competes in the Le Mans Series in Europe, won in LMP2 with ALMS driver Fernandez following in second. The battle royale in GT1 came down to the factory Aston Martins and the Corvettes as everyone expected. A lone Corvette was at the finish after its sister car broke a drive shaft leaving the path open for the 009 Aston Martin DBR9 to take its first win at Le Mans. In GT2 the victory went to French team IMSA Matmut and American driver Patrick Long who simply outlasted everyone else. Other honorable mentions include the Henri Pescarola squad who finished third on the podium in LMP1 in spite of all the odds and the Saleen teams who managed to find reliability and survive until the end.

On the Le Mans party front I'd have to say that it was a huge success. This year we ran both a time trials competition as well as a head to head match race. After resolving some network trouble the gang was able to gather round the gaming setup and listen to Radio Le Mans during the early afternoon Speed TV coverage blackout. As the night rolled on and the drink flowed there were several pitched battles between drivers including an all out banzai 3 lap race at Le Mans in the Audi R8.

Needless to say the day after I was a bit tired. About 35 hours of racing and being awake with a short 3 hour nap. I'll gather the statistics and make an official post of record over on the ERS site along with a few pictures as they come in. Anyway, till then it's back to work with only a long look toward the 2007 Petit Le Mans this fall.