Watch Audi win endurance classic… again

Enjoy Tom Kristensen, one of Le Man’s great drivers, win his eighth 24 Hours.

Stay classy, telecom giant

It takes a real lady to pull off a grid outfit as elegant and flattering (ahem) as this. In the absence of such women, O2 had to make do with this brassy quartet, to promote their brand at this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

It’s difficult to not pay special attention to the well-built girl on the right, who could perhaps have chosen a better-fitting cossie.

Japanese driver walks away from huge accident

Hideki Noda brought Wednesday’s qualifying action for this weekend’s Le Mans 24-Hour to a premature end when he crashed out at the first corner. It was a biggie - as the German commentator on this video said: “Ay ay ay ay ay.”

The 39-year-old Japanese driver was extremely lucky to escape injury, in what was the sixth aerial crash for a prototype car in the last four months. The Lola-Mazda was all but destroyed - it came apart like a drunken Transformer - and it’s doubtful that it can be rebuilt in time for the race.

Former F1 driver involved in monster smash at Le Mans

Marc Gene admitted that he thought he was going to meet his maker in this massive crash, which occurred during testing for the Le Mans 24 Hours. The Spaniard was at the wheel of his Peugeot 908 (which he will share with Nicolas Minassian and ex-F1 world champ Jacques Villeneuve) when he lost control at the Porsche Curves.

Gene, currently one of Ferrari’s F1 test drivers, said of the accident:

“I thought I was not going to be alive… At that speed I completely lost the control of the car and I saw that something really horrible was going to happen. Being unharmed is a miracle.”

Is this the most spectacular crash of all time?

Scottish racing driver Peter Dumbreck is famous for one thing: crashing his Mercedes CLR during the 1999 Le Mans 24-hour race. Actually, it’s unfair on Dumbreck to call it a crash – there wasn’t much he could do about it, apart from sit there and think “Uh-oh, why is my car taking off like a light aircraft?”

Amazingly, Dumbreck not only survived, he walked away without any serious injuries. The clip above features the incident as it happened, live - at this stage, no one knew if Dumbreck was alive. The commentator’s “Oh my God!” reaction says it all.

Ferrari dominate Bahrain GP, IndyCar gets youngest race winner

Felipe Massa wins Bahrain Grand Prix for second consecutive year [Planet F1]

Graham Rahal, 19-year-old son of Bobby, becomes youngest ever winner of an IndyCar race [IndyCar]

Carl Edwards notches third win of new NASCAR season [Crash.net]

Peugeot victorious in Catalunya 1000km race, the first round of the Le Mans Series [Motorsport.com]

Lorenzo Lanzi and Noriyuki Haga share spoils in Round 3 of World Superbikes [BBC]