Lotus is preparing for the Geneva debut of its latest Lotus Evora GTE with Formula 1 Champion Kimi Raikkonen in tow.

While specs and information on the new Team Lotus F1 inspired sports car are limited, the Evora GTE concept revealed last year is already a winner in the looks department. Last year, our editor-in-chief Colum Wood got to experience the Evora GTE first hand when it unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and said the “Lotus Evora GTE Road Car concept makes the Porsche GT3 look like a chick car.”

A blend between a standard Evora and the GTE-class racing cars, the road-going Evora GTE not only produces 420-hp, but also dropped some 165 pounds from the standard model. Now with the new F1 tie-in, we should expect unique racing livery and extra hardware to deliver a more focused driving experience.

Look out for its official debut on March 6th at the Geneva Motor Show.

GALLERY: Lotus Evora GTE

Recently named the world’s best sporting event by National Geographic, this year the 24 Hours of Le Mans celebrates 80 years.

The racing season may seem a long way off now, but to help set the mood the event’s organizing body, the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) has prepared a montage video of highlights throughout the decades. Enjoy it for now and look forward to the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 16th and 17th. This year’s event promises to be an exciting and an important one as hybrid engine cars (from both Toyota and Audi) are set to compete for the first time.

Watch the video below:

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National Geographic rated the 24 hours at Le Mans race the greatest sporting event in the world, beating the Olympics, Superbowl and the World Cup for the top spot. Who ever said driving wasn’t a “real sport”?

The race at Le Mans started in May of 1923 and has been an annual event ever since. The idea behind starting the race was to push manufacturers and race teams to put a car together with not just the fastest engine, but also a reliable engine capable of running for a full 24 hours. Each car has a team of at least three drivers who run parts of the race, with stints of two hours of more. But the race at Le Mans is about more than just three pilots and is truly a team sport when you consider the mechanics, the manufactures, the crew chief and everyone else who works on creating a winning race car.

While it seems that the easy choice would be the Olympics or the World Cup, National Geographic took the road less traveled and decided to back a truly grueling contest that tests man and machine. Bravo National Geographic, Bravo.

Toyota racing announced today that the TS030 hybrid powered race car will compete in the World Endurance Championship races.

Originally Toyota racing had planned on entering selected races on the World Endurance Championship circuit, but citing unexpected changes faced by the championship has now announced they will be a full-time entrant. This means that the debut of the TS030 will be on May 5th at the Six Hours of Spa Francorchamps.

For the 24 hours of Le Mans race, the regular driver line-up of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazui Nakajima has been confirmed, but the second set of drivers has yet to be determined.

“The circumstances for the championship changed suddenly in recent weeks and Toyota Racing considers it important to work together with the FIA and ACO to establish a successful future for endurance racing. We have done everything we can to show our support and we look forward to an exciting season, including the opportunity to race two cars at Le Mans,” said Toyota racing team president Yoshiaki Kinoshita.

See video of the Toyota Hybrid race car below:

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The German-based Kodewa team will be campaigning a pair of Lola LMP2 Coupes in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Lola LMP2 race cars are designed and built in Huntingdon UK and will be powered by an engine provided by the Lotus Group.

The Lola B12/80 LMP2 Coupes will sport a traditional black and gold livery, which was first made famous back in the 1970′s. The famous color scheme will be a nice contrast to the classic blue and orange Gulf Oil scheme that will be seen on the other Lola LMP2 cars this season.

“We have had a very successful winter at Lola with eight LMP cars having been ordered. We believe that new entries in sports cars are recognising the technical capabilities and iconic brand of Lola. It is pleasing that Kodewa, sponsored by Lotus, has chosen Lola to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24 hours, this year,” said Martin Birrane, Executive Chairman of Lola.

Lola has experienced great success recently taking the 2011 Le Mans Series and American Le Mans Series manufacturers titles. Lola was also the first gasoline-powered LMP car to finish last years Le Mans 24 Hours. We’ll see the new race cars in action at the first race of the 2012 season at the Sebring 12 Hours race on March 17th.

Audi is out to steal Toyota‘s thunder in the World Endurance Championship this year.

The German automaker announced today that it will run two hybrid LMP1 cars for the first time in their team of four during the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Details were scarce in the release, but we know that the cars will be officially released at the end of the month. Their first race debut will follow on May 5 at the 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Despite running the hybrid cars, Audi isn’t relying on them. Instead the R18 TDI that raced last year will remain the staple.

“The first test results are very encouraging and we are intrigued to see just how this technology performs in combination with our ultra lightweight technology on the race track at Le Mans. As before, we still, however, see potential with the conventional drive – just as our colleagues do in production development,” head of Audi Motorsport Wolfgang Ullrich said.

It seems that the engineers at Audi are putting some stock in Toyota’s strategy because developing and running those cars is no small feat.

“To develop the hybrid technology for Le Mans is at least as ambitious and challenging as our diesel project was in its early stages,” Ullrich said.

Audi won 10 of the total Le Mans races since 2000, so the fact that they’re putting money into a hybrid LMP1 means there’s probably something significant to be gained.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race, around 50 championship cars past and present paraded their way through the streets of Daytona.

The oldest race car to make the parade was the 1962 winner, while the newest was from last year’s race. The parade went off without a hitch with plenty of spectators lining the streets to snap photos as racing history went by on the same streets they drive on everyday. The vehicles traveled at speeds of more than 20-mph and weather cooperated.

Truly this parade was a once-in-a-lifetime sight, with millions and millions of valued race cars sharing the road with everyday, pedestrian automobiles.

Check out a video of the parade below.

[Source: Daytona Beach News Journal]

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You might be familiar with the sound a Le Mans car makes while whipping around the track, but this year Toyota is going to change all that.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Japanese giant is entering in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, set to start this June. Yesterday we reported a story revealing some of the mechanical details behind the TS030 hybrid, Toyota’s strategic play to work back into the Le Mans good books.

The hybrid, they hope, will trump the diesel competition this year. Their car will feature a 3.4-liter naturally-aspirated V8 paired with Toyota’s hybrid drivetrain, which will take advantage of a capacitor system instead of the lithium ion batteries found in production cars.

Until today we had only seen still photos and ready specs, but thanks to a fresh post on YouTube, we get a chance to hear what the car sounds like on the road. You don’t see or hear anything interesting for the first 30 seconds of the video, but it ends with the TS030 Hybrid turning onto the track and launching. As you probably imagine, the difference between the electric motors and the V8 is striking. You can watch the video below.

GALLERY: Toyota TS030 Hybrid

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Toyota spilled more details on Tuesday of its plan to run a hybrid at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Last week we reported that the Japanese automaker would be entering such a vehicle, but there were no details on the powertrain or the plan surrounding the car itself. That changed when the company issued a release detailing their plans to run not one, but two of their hybrid contenders in the Le Mans for the first time in more than a decade.

The first of the two cars will make its race debut at the Six Hours of Spa race in May. Perhaps the most interesting information to come from Toyota today are the details behind their hybrid LMP1 entry.

It will sport a 3.4-liter normally-aspirated V8, paired with a capacitor system instead of batteries, which will store energy through the car’s regenerative braking system. Essentially, that means the hybrid will store power while slowing down and use it for a significant acceleration boost while returning to speed.

The car will also benefit from a new carbon fiber LMP1 chassis that was developed and assembled at Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne, Germany.

Toyota will not, however, compete in all the FIA races. Instead, they want to use those they participate in to build up a strong racing platform for the future.

“Of course we would love to win Le Mans; that is the dream for all competitors in this race. But we are realistic and we know we need to develop and to learn in order to compete with some very strong competition. Our target this year is to show the performance level of our car and particularly the THS-R powertrain,” Yoshiaki Kinoshita, racing team president, said.

The decision hasn’t been made about who will man the second car, but we do know that the first car’s team includes 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Alex Wurz, last year’s 12 Hour of Sebring winner Nicolas Lapierre and former F1 driver Kazuki Nakajima.

GALLERY: TS030 Hybrid

Peugeot announced its withdrawal from Le Mans effective immediately.

While the diesel Peugeot 908 prototype won the 2009 24 hours of Le Mans outright, and has also earned 14 victories out of the 16 races in 2011, Peugeot has decided to terminate its endurance racing program in order to place greater emphasis on its sales operations amid decreasing profits and a trying European economy.

In hopes to turn things around for 2012, upcoming new model releases include the Peugeot 208, 3008 HYbrid4, RXH 508, 508, and 4008 Hybrid4, each playing a role in Peugeot’s strategy to globalize the brand and position itself upmarket.

While Peugeot’s absence from endurance racing will be missed, motorsport fans can look forward to the upcoming return of Toyota and its new LMP1 hybrid program for 2012. What’s more, Porsche engineers are hard at work developing their new prototype for Le Mans 2014.