In the build-up to this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans, many predicted a close race but few could have imagined just how close it would turn out to be. Both fielding brand new cars, main protagonists Audi and Peugeot were closer on pace than they ever were in their four previous encounters. In qualifying the six works cars were separated by less than sixth tenths of a second and on the line the difference equated to just 0.04 seconds per lap! Behind the battle of top honours there was also a particularly close fight between the Ferraris, Corvettes, BMWs and Porsches in the GTE Pro class. The race proved to be as eventful as it was close with some big crashes, almost all of which fortunately ended without injury. This somewhat overshadowed the news of Sir Stirling Moss hanging his helmet after running a single lap in the practice for the Le Mans Legend support event. Featuring several winning machines, this race was run on Saturday morning and featured a close fight between a Bizzarrini, a Cobra, several Listers and a Ferrari 250 LM.
Our reporters were in the city of Le Mans from Sunday last week to cover the event from the first car that entered scruteneering to the final car that crossed the finish line just over a week later. This has resulted in our largest ever gallery with a mouth-watering 410 shots. This serves to illustrate a report with all the highlights from the event.

Enjoy the links:

2011 24 Hours of Le Mans - Report and Slideshow