From Autoweek

The gap between diesel and gasoline-powered Le Mans prototypes has been narrowed for next season. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans) handed the gas cars a small power advantage and at the same time reduced the minimum weight of all LMP1 cars, a move that appears intended to handicap diesel machinery.

The gas cars will receive a 3 percent increase in air-restrictor diameter, which roughly equates to a 3 percent power hike. The reduction of the minimum weight to 900 kg (down from 925 kg) could actually hurt the diesels further, because they may not be able to get down to that weight due to their engines’ construction. Both the diesel and gasoline camps hit out at the changes.

At the Frankfurt Motor Show Peugeot will showcase its new 308 Hybrid HDi, which emits just 90g/km of CO2 and reduces fuel consumption by 58% in the Urban Drive Cycle compared to a standard 308 HDi.

From autoexpress.com

Two weeks after suffer­ing defeat at the hands of arch-rival Audi in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the French outfit scored its first one-two in the latest round of the Le Mans Series, at Germany’s Nürburgring.

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- 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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- Almost 3,400 kilometres without any significant problems
- Good start of newcomers to Audi Sport Team Joest
- Over 20,000 spectators watched the tests

During the eight hours available, Audi Sport Team Joest fully concentrated on
reeling off the testing programme that had previously been defined in detail. As
usual with Audi Sport, the tasks were clearly divided: The Audi R10 TDI car number 2
(Dindo Capello/Allan McNish/Mike Rockenfeller) was fitted with additional data
acquisition equipment in the morning. In the afternoon, the team in car number 2 ran
tyre tests. Last year’s winners Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner (car
number 1) compared various suspension set-ups. The R10 TDI bearing number 3 in the
race (Mattias Ekström/Lucas Luhr/Alexandre Prémat) was equipped with various
aerodynamic variants.

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Finally getting some real diesel news. This comes from tsn.ca.

Jacques Villeneuve’s goal to add the 24 Hours of Le Mans title to his racing resume may have to wait another year.

Despite winning the first two races they’ve entered in the Le Mans series this year, Peugeot says it does not think the new 908 HDi diesel can withstand the rigors of a 24 hour race.

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The Audi R10 may have something to fear in the Le Mans this year. Peugeot is coming back to races and bringing its big guns.