2009 Audi R8 Coupe 2-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Where to watch and follow the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year

In less than 24 hours the flag will drop on Audi's title defense at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota's best ever chance to win and Porsche's return to le grand defi. The Le Mans organizers have kept as au courant with broadcast options as they have with power unit technology, so you'll be able to find a place to watch or listen no matter what your preferred method. Friend-of-Autoblog Reilly Brennan has again put together an exhaustive "couch kit" of viewing options, which you can check out at his site. Here's the short list: Le Mans Site Le Mans TV Le Mans Facebook page Le Mans Twitter page FIA WEC Live timing Audi Sport stream Corvette Racing stream Nissan NISMO stream Entry list and grid Spotter's Guide You can watch or listen to the excellent Radio Le Mans, app, Autosport will have hourly updates and a live blog, the ACO has a Le Mans app. Fox will broadcast the event over a combination of Fox Sports 1, 2 and its Fox Sports Go App from 8:30 EST Saturday morning until 9:30 am EST Monday morning. Hit up Reilly Brennan's site for even more options and details like Eurosport and Daily Motion, and good watching – this should be a spectacular race. News Source: Reilly Brennan Motorsports Audi Porsche Toyota

Audi Q1 captured wearing production metal for first time

Audi is getting closer and closer to introducing its smallest crossover ever in the form of the new Q1. Now, we have our very first shots of the mini cute ute wearing its production skin. Expected to make its debut in 2016, it would seem that the Q1 will follow the trend set by the Q3 and draw inspiration from the brand's Q5 mid-sizer. Proportionally, it doesn't look dramatically smaller than the Q3. The front overhang is similarly sized, although there's a smaller rear overhang and a more aggressive rake to the rear window. The front windshield looks more aggressive too, and overall, the Q1 looks to sit lower to the ground than its big brother. While it shares a number of parts with the current Audi A1, when the Q1 debuts, it won't be based on the same platform. Audi's smallest car rides on the Volkswagen Polo's platform, while our spies report that the Q1 will instead be based on the Volkswagen Group's MQB platform. Despite the different platforms, though, expect there to be some sharing of powerplants. That means a variety of gas engines, and likely a version of the A1's 1.6-liter, turbodiesel four-cylinder. There should also be an SQ1 coming shortly after the standard model debuts. You know, for all the folks demanding a high-performance, all-wheel-drive, luxury mini crossover. Check out the full gallery of spy photos at the top of the page.

Winterkorn remains CEO of Volkswagen's majority shareholder

Martin Winterkorn may have stepped down as the chief executive of Volkswagen in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal, but he's not out from under the company's large umbrella just yet. In fact, according to a report from Reuters, he still holds four top-level positions not only within the industrial giant's bureaucracy, but at the top of it. And one of those is as CEO of the company's largest shareholder. That holding company is Porsche SE, the investment arm of the Piech and Porsche families (Ferdinand Porsche's descendants) which holds over 50 percent of VW's shares. In 2008, Porsche SE acquired majority interest in the Volkswagen Group which in turn acquired Porsche the automaker – and placed VW's Winterkorn at the head of the executive board of the holding company. Though Winterkorn has resigned from his position as chairman of VW's management board, he has apparently yet to step down from running Porsche SE. That's not the only job that Winterkorn still retains in VW's senior management. He also continues to serve as chairman of Audi, as well as truck manufacturer Scania, and the new Truck & Bus GmbH into which Scania has been grouped together with Man. It remains unclear if or when Winterkorn might resign from those positions as well, or how his tenure in those posts might affect the company's effort to start over in the aftermath of the scandal in which it is currently embroiled. Also unclear, Reuters reports, is how much, exactly, Winterkorn will receive in compensation after having stepped down from his chair at the head of the VW executive board. His pension is reported at over $30 million, but he could be awarded a large severance package as well amounting to as much as two years' worth of his annual compensation, which amounted to around $18 million last year. Whether he receives the severance pay or not is expected to depend on whether his resignation is considered by the supervisory board to have been the result of his own missteps or independent of the situation that resulted in his resignation. One way or another, he's not likely to go poor anytime soon.