Le Mans North America television coverage

Speed Channel Offers 21.5 Hours of Live Coverage From 24 Hours of Le Mans for North American Viewers

Braselton, GA - North American sports car racing fans who want to follow the action in this weekend's running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France will be treated to 21.5 hours of live coverage by the SPEED Channel on cable television.

Fourteen Americans and two Canadians will be among the 144 drivers who compete in the 72nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which starts at 10 a.m. (U.S. Eastern) on Saturday. Eleven racing teams from the American Le Mans Series will be in the field of 48 cars.

SPEED will be live from Le Mans for the ninth consecutive year and has announced the signing of a new deal to televise the event through 2008.

"As always in June, SPEED Channel is extremely energized by the 24 Hours of Le Mans," said Rick Miner, SPEED Channel's Senior Vice-President Programming/Production and Executive Producer. "Once again, we will send an extensive team of experienced talent to France, and in addition to the outstanding host broadcast, we will provide SPEED-only in-car and pit lane cameras."

SPEED comes on the air at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern) on Saturday with taped recaps of April's Le Mans Test Day and of this week's qualifying before beginning 20.5 hours of live race coverage at 9:30 a.m. Veteran broadcaster Bob Varsha will lead the SPEED team of on-air talent which also includes Leigh Diffey with play-by-play. Offering race analysis will be David Hobbs, Derek Daly and five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell, while reporting from the pits will be Calvin Fish, Brian Till, Andrew Marriott and Amanda Stretton.

After the race starts at 10 a.m., SPEED will have live coverage until 1 p.m., and will return at 2:30 p.m. with live coverage until 7 p.m. There will be a 30-minute live update at 7:30 p.m., then two more hours of live coverage starting at 10 p.m.

SPEED Channel will return to the air from Le Mans at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday and will stay live through the conclusion of the race.

In addition to live coverage of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, SPEED Channel will have live telecasts of five American Le Mans Series races in 2004. SPEED had flag-to-flag coverage of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring that opened the ALMS season in March and will also televise events later this season from Lime Rock Park (July 5), Portland International Raceway (July 25), Road America (August 22) and Chevy presents Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (September 25).

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