The first practice session for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours began at 16:00h. For the 56 cars entered in the race, it was the official start of race week.

Here's a quick rundown from free practice on the European Le Mans Series teams who make up one quarter of the grid.

English version to come

Actuellement en tête du championnat ELMS après une troisième place à Silverstone et une première à Imola, l'équipe Thiriet by TDS Racing s'est préparée pour les 24 Heures du Mans, épreuve phare de la saison, même si elle ne compte pas au championnat.

Pierre Thiriet, pilote de l'écurie sur la saison ELMS 2013, partagera son volant manceau avec Ludovic Badey et Maxime Martin. Ils comptent cinq participations à eux trois, Pierre et Maxime en seront à leur troisième alors que Ludovic ne prendra le départ de la plus grande course d'endurance du monde que pour la deuxième fois.

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Despite gloomy weather forecast, a glorious sun welcomed Morand Racing and their Morgan powered by Judd on their arrival in Le Mans town center this Monday for the traditional scrutineering and official photo. Supporters came in huge numbers in order to attend the various scrutineering steps. Benoit Morand, Joe Genoud and their team were proud to be there and to push the blue, white and black LM P2 under the first scrutineering tent at 11am. As tradition goes, pictures of the car were taken after the inspection and all the crew was invited to stand in front of photographers.

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After a conclusive Test Day, eight ORECA chassis will take part in the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours : sevent ORECA 03 and one Alpine A450, built and developed by ORECA. After podium finishes in the previous two editions of the race, the customer teams will be aiming for victory in a particularly competitive LM P2 class : 22 cars and 6 constructors, of which ORECA is the best represented ! The engine department, based in Magny-Cours, will also be on hand with the engineers overseeing no fewer than eight V8 engines.

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ORECA is celebrating its 40th anniversary, in the same year the 24 Hours of Le Mans celebrates its 90th year. It is a special double anniversary for the Team ORECA who, although it has competed in all the disciplines, has fallen in love with the La Sarthe twice around the clock classic. For the special occasion that will be the 2013 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, ORECA will show its passion for the event with a logo invoking the Group's 40 years of competition with the message: « Le Mans Addict ».

It all begins this weekend in the heart of Le Mans

Fifty six cars and 168 drivers will pass through the infamous administrative and technical checks over two days (Sunday/Monday), held on the Place de la République in the centre of Le Mans.  It is a golden opportunity for the thousands of spectators, fans and enthusiasts present to get close to the cars, meet the drivers and see the new models and racers due to take the start of the 81st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a week's time.

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Jota Sport completed a successful Test Day at the Circuit de la Sarthe on Sunday (June 9) as the British squad's preparations for the 90th anniversary Le Mans 24 Hours on June 22/23 continued.

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Test day at Le Mans: the first step taken : 10 laps completed by each of the  BOUTSEN GINION drivers, at the wheel of the LMP2 number 40 !

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Signatech-Alpine entered two Alpine A450s for the pre-Le Mans 24 Hours Test Day in order to prepare for the 90th anniversary edition of the famous French race (June 22-23, 2013). 

Conditions were damp for the first six hours' running before both Alpine A450s were able to switch to Michelin slick tyres for the remaining two hours.

In the hands of Nelson Panciatici, the N°36 Alpine A450 posted the second-fastest lap of the day in the LMP2 class (3m39.642s), at an average speed of 223.4kph. Paul-Loup Chatin put the N°37 Alpine A450 in third position (3m40.907s).

AF Corse's Matt Griffin is very proud of being Irish, but that hasn't stopped him from fully immersing himself in the land of pasta, tiny, strong, espresso coffees…and Ferraris.

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VISIT FLORIDA is to compete at the famed Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar endurance race this year in conjunction with the HVM Status GP team.

A regular sponsor in US sportscar events including with Mazda's Grand-Am SKY-ACTIV diesel programme, VISIT FLORIDA is to be the primary sponsor of the HVM Status GP's Lola-Judd B12/80 Coupe at Le Mans, which takes place in the La Sarthe region of France on June 22-23.

For a driver with as prestigious and successful a CV as Andrea Bertolini, it would be easy to think that he had many years of Le Mans experience under his belt.  However, this month's 90th anniversary of the world's greatest sportscar race will only be the Italian's second participation.  He will be driving the No.66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia in the super-competitive LMGTE Pro category, the only entry in the class to use Dunlop rubber.

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Signatech-Alpine to run two Alpine A450s at the pre-Le Mans Test Day on Sunday, June 9.

The car's first chance to lap the full Le Mans track will be followed by a busy fortnight for Alpine.

Tristan Gommendy, Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues and reserve driver Paul-Loup Chatin will take turns in the N°36 and N°37 Alpine A450s.

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TONGEREN (BEL) – For the fourth consecutive year ProSpeed Competition willbe competing at the 24H of Le Mans, the mythical endurance race. The Belgianteam will enter a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the LM GTE-AM category, a categoryreserved for Grand Touring cars whose team is comprised out of maximum oneprofessional driver. Renowned to be one of the world's most prestigiousmotorsport competitions, the 24H of Le Mans is celebrating its 90th anniversary.ProSpeed Competition will be joining the party with their Porsche #75 forFrançois Perrodo (FRA), Sébastien Crubilé (FRA) and Emmanuel Collard (FRA).

Of the 168 drivers who will take part in the 90th anniversary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, many lead busy racing lives and compete in several series.  Not many, however, have the opportunity to jump from an LMP1 to LMP2 to a GT car, but Rebellion Racing's Mathias Beche is one such driver.

Alongside his FIA WEC duties for Rebellion, Beche is also competing in the European Le Mans Series with Thiriet by TDS Racing, the 2012 Champions, as well as in the FFSA French GT Tour (also with Thiriet). 

In four short years, David Heinemeier Hansson has made quite a name for himself in the world of sportscar racing.  The Dane, who dreamt of competing at Le Mans since watching his countryman Tom Kristensen win there in 1997, will this year be making his second visit as a competitor to La Sarthe. 

As part of OAK Racing's talented FIA World Endurance Championship driver line up, the Chicago, USA resident will be sharing the cockpit of the No.24 Morgan-Nissan with Olivier Pla and Alex Brundle and the trio has LMP2 class victory firmly in their sights for the 90th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 22nd/23rd June.

Exactly 50 years ago Alpine made its debut amongst endurance racing's ‘greats' with its first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Between 1963 and 1955, the French constructor entered no less than 55 Alpines in the Le Mans event and, on top of numerous class victories, recorded a historic win in 1978 with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi at the wheel of an Alpine A442B prototype.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a race every endurance driver dreams of taking part in and the European Le Mans Series offers a ‘free pass' to the event to the winners of each class in the series.  Thus, the LMP2 champion will take his place in LMP2 for Le Mans, the two first winners of LMGTE will be offered entries in LMGTE Pro, and the new GTC category would be able to run in the LMGTE Am class. Concerning the LMPC Category, the new 2013 ELMS regulation offers an LMP2 ticket to Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 for the winner of the class in 2013.

- Alpine A450 drivers Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues completed the 3 Hours of Imola (round two of the 2013 European Le Mans Series) in second place.

- Thanks to their first podium finish of the season, Signatech-Alpine and its drivers are currently second in the championship's provisional standings.

- Signatech-Alpine's focus will now switch to its preparations for the 90th anniversary Le Mans 24 Hours on June 22-23. The Alpine A450 will be shared at the French race by Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues and Tristan Gommendy, with Paul-Loup Chatin as the team's reserve driver.

The 3 Hours of Imola has provided non stop action for the first half of the race and rain has been reported on parts of the track to add another element into who will prove to be victorious at the end of the second round of 2013 European Le Mans Series. 

The lead of the race is being held by the nr1 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca Nissan of Pierre Thiriet but is closely followed by the nr38 Jota Sport Zytek Nissan of Simon Dolan, which had started on pole position. 

The LMPC leader is the nr49 Team Endurance Challenge FLM Oreca of Paul Loup Chatin which has led from the start of the race.

The GTC Category has been growing since first round at Silverstone. Four additional cars will be running at Imola, increasing the GTC grid to seven cars for the second round of the 2013 European Le Mans Series, the 3 Hours of Imola.

Championship leaders Jota Sport scored their second pole position in two races when Oliver Turvey lapped the 4.9km Imola circuit in 1m34.343 in the team's Zytek-Nissan, nearly half a second ahead of 2012 Champions Thiriet by TDS Racing.  Jota will now start the 3 Hours of Imola this afternoon at the head of the 28 car field.

The first qualifying session of the weekend for the LMGTE and GTC competitors taking part in the 3 Hours of Imola produced a pole position for the two famous Italian manufacturers Ferrari and Lamborghini at their home circuit. 

Today is the second round of the 2013 European Le Mans Series from Imola and the sun is shining on the Italian circuit as the teams prepare for qualifying and the race.

The opening day of the 3 Hours of Imola weekend ended under sunny skies with the nr36 Signatech Alpine finish with the fastest lap of the day around the 4.9km Imola circuit.  Nelson Panciatici posted a 1m36.214 time, 0.6 seconds quicker than the nearest rival, the nr18 Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissan of Brendon Hartley and Mark Patterson.    Panciatici's lap was over three seconds faster than the best LMP2 time set during the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) 6 hour race held in July 2011.

All British team EcurieEcosse won at home in Round 1 at Silverstone last month and will start in Imola at the head of the GTC Category which boasts a seven car grid for round 2 in Italy.

2012 ELMS Champions Thiriet by TDS Racing were fastest during the opening session of the 3 Hours of Imola weekend in Italy with Mathias Beche setting a 1m42.026 lap at the end of the 60-minute Free Practice session. 

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Some four weeks ago the MOMO-Megatron DF1 Team finished the first race in the ELMS (European Le Mans Series), held on the English Silverstone circuit, in a successful third place in the GTC class.

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- The second round of the 2013 European Le Mans Series will take teams to Imola, some 40 kilometres from Bologna, Italy, on May 17-18.

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HVM Status GP has signed Canada's Tony Burgess and Switzerland's Jonathan Hirschi to compete in the European Le Mans Series race at Imola and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Set up is in progress, the teams are settling in, and the paddocks are taking shape at Imola.

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The second round of the European Le Mans Series takes place this coming weekend at the Italian circuit at Imola near Bologna, home of the former San Marino F1 Grand Prix. Planning to feature strongly among the nine Ferrari 458 Italias due to race at the 3 Hours of Imola are Ram Racing's two gleaming white entries.

The second round of the European Le Mans Series will take place at the Imola circuit this week end and, amongst the 68 drivers entered for this event, ten of them will be able to call it a home event. In addition, the only Italian team present – AF Corse – will compete in two categories: LMGTE and GTC.

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After victory at Silverstone in the LM PC class for Soheil Ayari and Anthony Pons,Team Endurance Challenge heads to Enzo and Dino Ferrari d'Imola Circuit. Forthe second round of the European Le Mans Series, three ORECA-FLM 09 will beon track : the No. 47 in the hands of Andorran driver Alex Loan and FrenchmanMatthieu Lecuyer, the No. 48 driven by Soheil Ayari and Anthony Pons, as wellas the No. 49 shared by Paul-Loup Chatain and Gary Hirsch. It's another step forTeam Endurance Challenge allowing five of its six drivers to discover thediscipline with a future participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the primarytarget. The team's mentor, Nicolas Minassian, will also be present.