- Thrilling battle for pole positon in first qualifying
- Allan McNish fastest Audi driver on Wednesday
- Successful comeback of Tom Kristensen

The first qualifying session for the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours has given a hint what specators can expect weekend in the 75th running of the French endurance classic: a thrilling battle between the diesel-powered sportscars from Audi and Peugeot.

Two red-flags and a rain shower caused a quite unusual Le Mans qualifying on Wednesday evening. On a track which dried only slowly, the fastest times were set just before the end of the practice at midnight. When at exactly 12 p.m. the chequered flag was waved, Allan McNish in the number 2 Audi R10 TDI was topping the time list. However, the Scotsman was narrowly relegated to provisional second spot on the grid by the best Peugeot in the dying seconds.

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From autoindustry.co.uk

The Nikkei daily has reported that Honda is planning to roll out its diesel engines in its home market by 2009. If this happens, Honda will be only the second manufacturer to offer diesel saloon/estate cars in Japan, besides Mercedes-Benz, which has offered its E320 CDI there since August last year. Honda itself has confirmed only that the decision is under consideration. It has so far produced its current diesel range uniquely for EU markets’ consumption.

Nissan and Subaru are among other Japanese manufacturers less committed to petrol hybrids than Toyota, and the latter is launching its first ever diesel, the world’s first ever boxer diesel, towards the end of this year. They are both said to be keen to see diesels challenge the green credentials of petrol/electric powertrains in the Japanese market.

From Business First of Buffalo

An announcement that General Motors Corp. will assign a new engine line to its Tonawanda Powertrain Division plant is expected this Friday.

The manufacturing complex made a formal bid for a 4.5-liter diesel that would be installed in certain pickups and SUVs in the 2010 model year. Production would start in 2009.

There is no formal confirmation yet that such an announcement will be made Friday. But one source close to the situation said the plant will get the new work “unless GM changes its mind at the last minute.”

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DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–International Oil & Gas Holdings Corporation (Pink Sheets:IOGH) today announced that the Company’s proprietary production processes for bio-diesel made from oils and fats are contained in three basic routes: Base catalyzed trans-esterification of the feedstock, Acid catalyzed trans-esterification and Conversion of the feedstock to its fatty acids, and then to bio-diesel. A major difference in the IOGH process compared to others is that most bio-diesel today is produced using the Base catalyzed reaction because of ease of overall production cost. The choice of which Base catalyst to use can have long range effects on the quality of the bio-diesel produced. IOGH has chosen and perfected this 3-stage process.

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