THE LINE

June 15, 2011

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
The No. 73 Pratt&Miller Engineering-prepared Compuware Corvette C6.R driven by Olivier Beretta, Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia came from a lap down to beat the class-leading No. 51 Ferrari 458 Italia to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTE Pro class. It was the seventh class win at Le Mans for Corvette Racing.

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
The No. 74 Corvette C6.R of Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, and Richard Westbrook lead the GTE Pro class for almost 16 hours, but the car was trashed in a high-speed crash in the 17th hour early Sunday morning with Jan Magnussen at the wheel. Jan luckily was uninjured, but the car was toast.

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
The winning Corvette C6.R gets pit service from the crack Pratt&Miller crew.

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
The Pratt&Miller crew delivered over and over and over again in the pits on behalf of the winning Corvette C6.R.

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
Pounding around in the darkness... the essence of Le Mans.

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
The one thing that strikes you about Le Mans right away? The pure speed. All the time.

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
Seven class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a little over a decade? Corvette Racing is the very definition of excellence.

(Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo)
Victory at Le Mans for Corvette Racing.

(Audi AG)
Audi lost two team cars to massive crashes but held off Peugeot to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, giving the German manufacturer its 10th title at the French endurance classic. Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer - the team's "young guns" - drove the No. 2 Audi R18 TDI to victory. Audi is now second in all-time Le Mans wins behind Porsche, which has 16 titles. Ferrari is third with nine. The winning drivers completed 355 laps in 24 hours, leading the second place No. 9 Peugeot 908 driven by Simon Pagenaud, Pedro Lamy and Sebastien Bourdais by 13.854 seconds. Stephane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny and Nicolas Minassian finished third in the No. 8 Peugeot team car, two laps back. Lotterer set the fastest lap of the race in the 19th hour, turning a lap of 3 minutes, 25.289 seconds on the 8.5-mile circuit.

(Michael Levitt/LAT Photo USA)
Dario Franchitti and Will Power were the big winners in the IZOD IndyCar Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night. Franchitti held off Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon by 0.0527 of a second to win the first race, and Power scored his first IZOD IndyCar Series oval victory in the nightcap. The 25 points (plus two bonus points for leading the most laps) gave Power a 239-218 points advantage over second place Dario Franchitti heading to Milwaukee. Franchitti, who earned 27 points by winning the first race and leading the most laps, drew the 28th starting position for Race 2. He weaved his way to finish seventh but lost five points through the two races under the lights. Dixon, who started 18th, was 0.9466 of a second behind Power; he was runner-up in both races to move up one spot in the championship standings to third. It was the first caution-free IZOD IndyCar Series race since the 2009 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It also was the second-fastest race in series history (206.64 mph average). Next up is the Milwaukee 225 on June 19 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race will be telecast in high-definition at 3:30 p.m. (EDT) on ABC and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network and XM 94 and Sirius 212. The 2011 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the David Hobbs 100 on June 19.

(Chris Jones/IndyCar)
The action is always side-by-side frantic when IndyCar visits the Texas Motor Speedway. Here, Oriol Servia and Scott Dixon go at it.

(Chris Jones/IndyCar)
Helio Castroneves' Team Penske crew springs into action on a pit stop.

(Paul Webb/LAT Photo USA)
Tony Kanaan gets ready for race No. 1.

(Michael Levitt/LAT Photo USA)
Will Power does his "Power Leap" after his win in the nightcap of the Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: If you really must keep up on all of the latest F1 developments and the potential U.S. GP in Austin, Texas, go here. - PMD

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Michelin's racing website - "Michelin Alley" - and get in on all of the behind-the-scenes buzz. Go here. - PMD

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