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2015 24 Hours of Le Mans live race report

Check back regularly for more race updates every few hours. No, you don't need to stay up for the entire 24 Hours of Le Mans, but if you want to catch any of the action, Autoblog friend Reilly Brennan has a handy guide. And to keep you up to speed on the latest race events, we'll be posting live from Le Mans with regular race reports.Hour 1: Five laps in, Audi breaks up the three Porsches at the front, with the #19 919 Hybrid, driven by Nico Hulkenburg, passed by all three R18s. Hulkenburg eventually took back fifth position only to fall back again after the first pit stop. Meanwhile, clutch trouble kept the #23 Nissan GTR-LM in the pits until 15 minutes into the race. The other two Nissans were forced to start at the back of the grid after failing to the meet the 110 percent qualifying speed regulation. At the end of the first hour, just 7.5 seconds separated the first six cars. Then the factory team #92 Porsche GTE car caught fire, with the the #13 Rebellion P1 car taking frontal damage in the ensuing carnage. With the safety car out, the field is once again bunched up.Hour 2: The slugfest between Audi and Porsche continues, with neither side backing off. Halfway through the second hour the #7 R18 passes both leading Porsches for the top position. After another round of pits stops Porsche regains the lead until lap 30, when the Audi overtake once again and quickly pulls out a three-second gap. Nico Hulkenburg passes the other two Audis to join his Porsche teammates. At the beginning of the third hour it's Audi #7, Porsche #17, #18, and #19, followed by Audi #8 and #9. 33 seconds separates this group, with Toyota a minute back from the front car.Hour 3: On track the action refuses to stop. Although it's early, Audi is looking strong with the overall lead in the #7. What's more is that the Audis run four stints per set of tires, while the Porsche cars have to change rubber every third stop. But after a quick refueling, the lead R18 gets a tire puncture and comes back in 3 laps later, allowing Porsche to take over the top two spots. Then as the hour closes out a yellow flag causes traffic to bunch up and the #8 Audi gets stuck with nowhere to slow down. Driver Loic Duval dives for the side of the road but hits the guard rail and careens across the track, damaging the front and rear bodywork. The rest of the car is still intact, though, and once in the pits Audi replaces the entire front and rear of that in only three minutes.

Porsche opening network of dedicated Classics centers

Porsche is in the process of opening a new network of service centers specifically focused on its classic cars. By 2018, the German automaker aims to have 100 such locations up and running around the world. What you're looking at here is the first. Opening this week in Gelderland – a city on the outskirts of Arnhem in the Netherlands – the first dedicated Porsche Classic Center is designed to support older vehicles from Zuffenhausen's history. That means undertaking service and maintenance, installing original parts, partially or completely overhauling of vintage vehicles – even selling classic Porsches certified by the factory. The company reports that over 70 percent of the vehicles it has ever produced are still running. That rather impressive statistic speaks to the quality of the vehicles in the first place, but also the dedication of their owners to keep them running, and the necessity for proper service and maintenance. The chain of 100 or so Porsche Classic Centers to open around the world will stem from the existing network of Porsche Classic Partners. As it is, the network includes 24 such partners around the world, principally in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Ten of those 24 are located in Germany alone. However the new network will incorporate locations in North America as well. Premiere for Porsche Classic Centre in Gelderland World's first Porsche centre for classic cars to open Gelderland/Stuttgart. The world's first Porsche Classic Centre is just about to open: from 26 November 2015, the Porsche Classic Centre Gelderland, just outside of Arnhem/Netherlands, will be offering services for classic cars of all ages from Zuffenhausen. This is the first time that service, workshop and sales exclusively for the classic sports cars have been brought together under one roof. A small number of additional certified Porsche Classic Centres are set to follow around the world and produce an even more closely knit Porsche Classic network. More than 70 per cent of the vehicles ever produced by Porsche are still running today. To ensure that these classic cars receive optimum support and overhaul facilities, Porsche is establishing an international dealer and service network with some 100 centres to reach completion by 2018. This mainly involves Porsche centres which will provide support for sports cars of earlier eras in addition to the current models and will be certified as Porsche Classic Partners.

Audi spearheads development of an ultra-luxurious EV code-named Landjet

The rumors claiming Audi wants to release a model positioned above the A8, and the reports of an ongoing electric car development program called Artemis internally, have seemingly converged. Citing sources inside the carmaker, a German media outlet reported the firm is busily creating a super-luxurious EV code-named Landjet. Audi is leading the development process, but sister companies Bentley and Porsche will reportedly receive their own version of the Landjet. All three models will likely take the form of three-row SUVs with generous dimensions. They'll be so big that none of Audi's production facilities will be able to manufacture them, according to an anonymous insider who spoke with German newspaper Handelsblatt. Luckily, Volkswagen makes vans, too. It's too early to tell what will power the Landjets. Audi assigned some of its most brilliant engineers to Project Artemis, and the technology they develop will permeate the three EVs before trickling down into cheaper models in the group. Expect high performance, a high driving range, and semi-automated driving technology. If the report is accurate, the Landjet vehicles will enter production in Hanover, Germany, by the end of 2024. The facility currently makes the Volkswagen Transporter, which is a direct descendant of the rear-engined Bus sold for decades, and it will start manufacturing the production version of the ID.Buzz concept in the coming years. Volkswagen hasn't commented on the report, and car companies rarely address speculation, but its Commercial Vehicles division released a statement in November 2020 that confirms the Hanover site will begin building SUVs about halfway through the 2020s. It's a major shift for a factory normally tasked with manufacturing vans. "Our main plant in Hanover is becoming the production site for three completely new premium electric vehicles in the Group. These D-SUVs are genuine flagship projects: premium, 100% electric, and highly automated," said Carsten Intra, the head of Volkswagen's Commercial Vehicles division, in a statement. He added the firm will invest about 680 million euros (about $807 million) to build a new assembly line, among other upgrades.