The first race of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, was a success, with a grid of more than thirty cars and duels between major manufacturers; Peugeot and Audi in prototypes, Ferrari and Porsche in GT.

Prototypes: The Audi 'lion hunt'.
The 1000km of Silverstone finished with a Peugeot 1-2, but was also the scene of an uncharacteristic early retirement of the pole position Audi of Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen in the first half hour of racing. Third at the finish was the second R15 TDI, Dindo Capello and Timo Bernhard who joined winners Nicolas Minassian and Anthony Davidson on the podium. The loss of the #7 made the task of catching Peugeot that much more difficult for Dr Ullrich's team. Already 26 points behind in the provisional ILMC rankings, they will have to excel at Petit Le Mans. To catch Peugeot, Audi will have to aim for a 1-2 finish in Georgia and count on at least one drop-out of a 908. The task is difficult but not impossible, for several reasons. The first is the nature of the Petit Le Mans; run not on 1000km (corresponding to approximately five hours of racing), but 1000 miles (just over 1600 km) or ten hours, and you just have to recall the last 24 Hours of Le Mans to know Audi has always performed well in longer races. The second reason is the experience of Audi at Petit Le Mans, with no fewer than nine consecutive victories from 2000 to 2008. But remember Peugeot won 2009 in a race shortened by the weather. There is no room for error in this series of only three races. Any failure could be unrecoverable. We should expect the balance of power to shift at this race founded by Don Panoz in 1998.

The LM P2 contest could be interesting. OAK Racing, the only French team in this category of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at Petit Le Mans will face the Acura ARX-01c to Highcroft Racing and the Porsche RS Spyder Team CytoSport, the two best teams from across the Atlantic, occupying currently the two top spots in the standings of the American Le Mans Series.

GT: BMW could upset the order.
While Audi and Peugeot compete in prototypes with factory cars, other major manufacturers are contesting GT2 through semi-official teams, different for each continent, as seen in the Petit Le Mans entry list. The is one thing constant, however: In Le Mans Series, ALMS, for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup it is the the duel between Ferrari and Porsche. Represented by Silverstone Racing AF Corse and CRS, the 'Prancing Horse' is the leader ILMC, but only four points ahead of the Stuttgart manufacturer, with the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche and ProSpeed Competition. BMW occupies third place in the standings.

At Petit Le Mans, Ferrari, Porsche and BMW are respectively represented by Risi Competizione, Flying Lizard Motorsports and Rahal Letterman Racing, and the competitiveness of the latter team could catch the Bavarian manufacturer in the provisional rankings. A new competitor will be on the scene for ILMS, namely the two Jaguar RSR who will be present both in the USA and China. Petit Le Mans will also see the baptism of the new Panoz Abruzzi. Announced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it will run out of classification pending homologation.

In addition, Petit Le Mans will see the first ever participation in a "Le Mans" race of the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, star of the 24 Hours Nürburgring. It will participate outside classification, but will test new ecological technology important to the future of regulations of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A pioneering approach, which has always been the hallmark of Le Mans, and very approriate for the newly emerged but promising, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.