Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,
This weekend the sixth Le Mans Series (LMS) season kicked off with a cracking 1000 km race around the Circuit de Catalunya just north of Barcelona, Spain. Other than the departure of the Peugeot and Audi Works teams, the LMS seems to have gotten through the economic perils virtually unscathed. The void left by the aforementioned teams in LMP1 has been filled by Aston Martin Racing and the Kolles team with last year's championship winning Audi R10s. More importantly there were an impressive 43 cars on the grid for the season opener.
The race kicked off on Sunday at 11:30 am and lasted the full six hours. All four classes were closely disputed throughout the race and the fight between the new Pescarolo and Lola-Aston Martins was not settled until the dying minutes.
In addition to the modern sports racing cars, the LMS features the Classic Endurance Racing (CER) series in its support program. Open to historic racing cars from the 1960s and 1970s, the CER race is a one-hour enduro. Just like its modern equivalent, the CER attracted over 40 entrants for the Catalunya round. Among them were a Porsche 936, several Lola T70s and three BMW M1s.
Our photographers were trackside the full three days to capture all the action from both the Le Mans Series and Classic Endurance Racing races. The result is an exclusive 180-shot gallery that illustrates a full report of the weekend's events.
2009 Le Mans Series Catalunya 1000 km report and slideshow
Regards,
Wouter Melissen