For the uninformed, the 24h of Le Mans is the first and the biggest endurance motor race in the world, running yearly from 1923 with the exception of a couple of French worker strikes and the second world war, and it's that time of the year again to watch the enormous Circuit de La Sarthe to crush the hopes and dreams of people wanting to win the biggest title of them all.
It is also the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which basically exists to give LMP1 cars something to do for the rest of the year.
The entrants are divided into four classes:
LMP1 consisting of three Toyotas, hoping to not have a last lap breakdown again this year, two Porsches and that Enso car which is the only one not using a hybrid engine and not expected to win anything. LMP1 cars are the fastest closed-wheel cars in the world.
LMP2 consisting of a whole lot of cars that are very similar in looks to LMP1 cars but not quite as fast. The most popular category this year.
GTE-Pro with their GT cars that are very similar to the production cars they are based off, and of which there has to be at least a hundred street cars out there (Aside from Ford, the cheating bastards). The cars are then balanced with air restrictors and ballast to be of roughly similar performance (aside from Ford, the sandbagging bastards).
GTE-Am with more or less same cars but with amateur drivers. Also that paint glows in the dark. Cool.
Legit ways to follow the race for free:
Radio Le Mans does an audio broadcast over the full race
Autosport.com will do text-based coverage over the entire race
Streams
Official Site (10€ paywall)
Eurosport has a cheaper pass, apparently. Probably for Europe only though.
At least Porsche should have live onboard cameras on their cars through the race, found either on their Youtube channel or official website.
And then there's other ways to watch the race, for you to discover on your own.
As of posting we are an hour from the start.
