The Bentley boys are back

On June 14 and 15 at Le Mans in France, Bentley will attempt to win this most prodigious of sports car races on the 80th anniversary of its first race in the 24-hour classic.

After eight hours of testing the Le Mans GT Prototype topped the time sheets with Tom Kristensen lapping in 3min 34.8sec, over 3.5sec ahead of the fastest of the hitherto unbeatable Audi R8s.

"I am absolutely delighted to end up fastest by such a margin," said Bentley’s Motorsport director, Brian Gush, "particularly as we have not had the easiest of days. We lost a lot of time making set-up changes for car 8, while car 7 was stranded for an hour before lunch. Under the circumstances I’d say we could hardly have hoped for more, save perhaps a traffic-free run for Johnny at the end of the day. Had he had a clear lap, I’ve no doubt we’d have been in the top two spots. As it is, car 8 is only half a second behind the fastest of the three Audis."

––Michael Binstock