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The 2011 Sportscar season review

The 2011 sportscar season was a classic, with close action across all three Le Mans-affiliated championships and a memorable 24 Hours at which Audi triumphed over great rival Peugeot. Gary Watkins reviews the year

This will be remembered as a seminal season for sportscar racing. And not because there was some amazing racing between Peugeot and Audi every time they went head to head on the track. It was the year that the discipline got back a proper long-distance world championship for the first time in 20 seasons. It was called the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, and before summer had fully arrived came the news that this world championship in all but name would get the title it always deserved for the 2012.

The first and now only full ILMC (the 2010 series was just three end-of-season races) might get lost in the history books if the new FIA World Endurance Championship is the runaway success that everyone is hoping for and almost as many are predicting. That would be a shame for two reasons: firstly because of its importance in the creation, or rather recreation, of the WEC; and secondly because of the quality of racing up front between the turbodiesel factory squads.

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