<I>SPEED Channel</I> to carry 'insomniac coverage'

US motorsport broadcaster SPEED Channel will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the eighth consecutive year in 2003, ready to bring viewers 17 hours of live coverage from the 71st running of the round-the-clock classic.

SPEED hits the air at 9am on 14 June with a half-hour, pre-race programme leading into the start of the engines. Australian commentator Leigh Diffey will handle play-by-play coverage, while Bill Adam and Le Mans veteran David Hobbs will provide analysis. Derek Bell, a five-time winner at Le Mans, will join the team in the booth and Brian Till, Andrew Marriott and Martin Haven will work the pits. In addition, SPEED will offer bonus 'insomniac coverage' using the world broadcast feed and Radio Le Mans from 4am to 7am ET.

"Le Mans has taken on the aura of one of a select group of sporting events that belongs to the entire world," said Hobbs, who competed 20 times in the event, "It belongs with such events as Wimbledon and the Indy 500.

"As a driver, it is a magnificent course to race on - it's very smooth with long straights, great sweeping corners and a few slow corners that basically are rural intersections the rest of the year. And the atmosphere separates it from every other event in motorsports.

"There is a fairground-like setting with shops and villages popping up just for the event. There are hundreds of thousands of people at Le Mans, but they are not crammed into a race track, they are spread out over the French countryside. As a young boy growing up in England, it was certainly the one race I wanted to win more than any other."

And, after 20 runs at Le Mans, Hobbs' memory turns to two things.

"The first is that I never won," he said with a laugh. "Luckily, having raced there so many times, most people just assume I must have won at least once.

"But the one image that comes to mind first when I think of Le Mans as a driver, is taking the slow right corner at Arnage and heading back into the evening sun toward the pits. It's what every racer wants to be doing - a high-speed run through a heavily wooded area into the setting summer sun. That's the picture that comes to mind before any other."

The Le Mans broadcast schedule on SPEED (all times Eastern and subject to change) is as follows:

0900-0930 - Qualifying special (taped)0930-1300 - Pre-race and live first-day race coverage1430-1730 - Live evening race coverage1900 - Live segment part of SpeedNews1930-2000 - Live 30-minute update0030-0400 - Live race coverage (dawn at Le Mans)0400-0700 - Bonus 'insomniac coverage' (morning thru midday at Le Mans)0700-1030 - Live race coverage (the finish)