With 55 teams originally accepted to take part in the Le Mans 24hrs this year, the race can easily become a blur. Below is a quick guide for what to look out for.

Le Mans Prototype 1: This is the top category of entrants in the race. Each car has a minimum weight of 925kg, and either has a 6 litre engine, 4 litre turbo or 5.5 litre Diesel engine. The LMP1 category has been dominated in recent years by the Audi Diesel R10. Not surprisingly, this year the works diesels are numbered 1, 2 & 3. New challengers this year are the Peugeot 908 diesels, and they are numbered 7 & 8. Although these cars are highly favoured, don’t be surprised to see them pushed all the way by the 3 petrol driven Pescarolos (numbers 16, 17 &18). All LMP1 cars will have white beam headlights.

Le Mans Prototype 2: Although they resemble the LMP1 cars with their white headlights, the LMP2 category are lighter by 125 kg and powered by a 3.4 litre engine or a 2 litre turbo. Traditionally dominated by Courage and Lola vehicles the LMP2 field is joined this year by Barazi Epsilon with 2 new Zytek 07S/2’s (numbers 32 &33) Also competing are the T2M Motorsport Dome (29) & Kruse Motorsport Pescarolo- Judd (44).

Le Mans Grand Touring 1: This hard fought category features vehicles that look more like production cars than the prototypes although still powered by 8 litre engine or 4 litre turbo. The LMGT1 cars will have yellow headlights. This year the LMGT1 category looks to be dominated by a fight between the Aston Martins (006 – 009) and the Corvettes (63, 64, 72 & 73). Although the JLOC ISAO Noritake’s Lamborghini Murcielago (53) may push them all close.

Le Mans Grand Touring 2: Another great battle is on the cards for the LMGT2 category with Ferrari F430GT’s going up against the ever popular Porsche 911 GT3 RSR’s. Also in this field are 2 LNT Panoz Esperantes (81 & 82) & 2 Spyker C8 Spyders (85 & 86).