Le Mans 2010: a picture gallery by Alex Tapley

Last month I returned from my second consecutive Nurburgring 24hr race, so I was excited to be getting my first taste of Le Mans last weekend. Two very similar concepts, yet the endurance races at the Ring and Le Mans differ hugely, and both excite for very different reasons. I just hope they stay that way.

Here are some of my favourite pictures from the weekend:

1. CAR Magazine's art director Andy Franklin gets the short straw for the first leg of the journey in our Audi A8. Three passengers plus luggage for a weekend of unpredictable weather doesn’t leave a lot of room for the backseat passenger - even in our limo.

2. We arrive in Le Mans in our new, fully specced A8 (although there's no TV! This car costs £95k!). Distorted mirror reflection or is it really that big?

3. We assume our positions for the start of the race, high up above the pit straight in the Audi media suite. Great view of all the action. Let the race commence!

4. Love it or hate it, once it's hitting its top speed of almost 180mph down the pit straight, the Jeff Koons BMW M3 GT2 Art Car livery begins to make sense.

5. My AAA photographer's pass got us to places that other bracelets simply couldn't. Here we're shooting from inside the Aston Martin pit garage as LMP1 007 comes in to refuel. 

6. As the daylight begins to drop, the atmosphere intensifies when tiredness kicks in, and mistakes get made.

7. Stalking CAR associate editor Tim Pollard for the weekend: not usually a favourite way to spend my time, but to keep the CAR Live Blog ticking over through this year's 24hr Le Mans, this weekend is an exception!

8. The race is over and the winning Audis cross the line in procession. It's been a dramatic race and the Peugeot 908s' anticipated dominance crumbled to nothing.

9. Carnage ensues as the fans hit the track, taking anything they can as a souvenir.

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