Full Throttle

First there was 24 Heures du Mans with a long and storied history that dates back to May 26 and 27, 1923 and has since been run annually in June.

Organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) it’s history includes horrid crashes, one that caused a near extinction of the sport of auto racing, FoMoCo scoring our straight wins with GT40s in mid to late sixties, a decade (’70-’80) when the Porsche 917, 935, and 936’s were dominant and the current decade that has seen Audi dominate with their diesel powered R8 machines.

Strong manufacturer influence at Le Mans led the ACO to lending the Le Mans name to the American Le Mans Series. The series was created in 1999 by Georgia-based businessman Don Panoz. Panoz created a partnership with the Automobile Club de L’Ouest (ACO) and features one of four classes: LMP1 and LMP2 for Le Mans prototypes, and GT1 and GT2 for Grand Touring cars.

Le Mans does Shanghai: The ACO announced the formation of the Asian Le Mans Series, which will begin in 2009. As a precursor, a 1000-km race will be held at Shanghai this November, with organizers providing extra incentive for teams to make the trip.

The ACO hopes to tap into entrants of the American Le Mans Series as well as its European-based Le Mans Series for the Asian events. The Asian Le Mans Series will include at least two events, one in China and one in Japan in 2009.

Entrants making this trip to Asia will be rewarded as the winners of the LM P1, LM P2, LM GT1 and LM GT2 categories will receive an automatic invitation for the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Cross Posted @ Asian Motor Sports