An amazing mixture of international motorsport events took place. The notoriously tough Acropolis rally was the destination of the WRC, whereas the BTCC moved to North Yorkshire's Croft circuit. Many eyes were focused on Le Mans and the 77th running of the 24 Heures du Mans, the worlds most famous motorsport event.

Ford's Mikko Hirvonen at last took a victory in the 209 WRC season, as he led home Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala. Hirvonen had set off at pace from the outset on Friday and drove well throughout. Latvala had overshot early on, and was left to make up the deficit to the leading pack or Hirvonen, Sebastien Loeb, Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg. His task was made easier as Loeb made a rare mistake, and endured a massive accident in his Citroen C4. Both he and Daniel Elena walked away from the accident, but the car was so badly damaged it couldn't be repaired safely to re-enter under SupeRally rules. Sordo hit a rock damaging his car badly, and Petter Solberg endured heartache. He was chasing Hirvonen and he could have put massive pressure on the Finn, but suffered severe suspension damage forcing his retirement.

In a repeat of the 2008 meeting at Croft, Colin Turkington took the first two race wins, with Fabrizio Giovanardi closing the meeting with victory in the third race. Turkington set the pace, as he claimed pole position where he set his foundations for the wins, and both times was followed home by his team mate Stephen Jelley. Jelly had never made a BTCC podium, but managed to make it onto it in all three races at Croft. The final race was held in atrocious conditions, and numerous incidents meant the safety car was used throughout. Giovanardi and James Thompson battled throughout, but it was the Italian's brave and amazing pass around the outside through Sunny In and Sunny Out. The standing water on the corner was obvious, and this added to the speed at which they went side-by-side around the corners makes it even more amazing.

The 77th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans got under way at 2pm BST, with Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo officially starting the race. Peugeot number 8 had qualified on pole position, with Stephane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny and Sebastien Bourdais on-board. They started off well and pulled out a significant gap over the Audi of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello. A freak pt lane incident with one of the Pescarolo Peugeot 908s caused the number 8 factory Peugeot to drop down the order significantly, allowing the number 7 car of Marc Gene, Alex Wurz and David Brabham to assume the lead which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the epic 24 hour race.

The next series of events are next weekend. The WTCC moves to the undulating Brno Circuit in the Czech Republic. The IRC resumes with the Ypres Rally in Belgium, and the V8 Supercars head to Hidden Valley in Darwin.

Results

  Rallying

    WRC

      Final Positions (Top 8)
        1. Mikko Hirvonen
        2. Sebastien Ogier
        3. Jari-Matti Latvala
        4. Federico Villagra
        5. Conrad Rautenbach
        6. Khalid Al-Qassimi
        7. Mads Ostberg
        8. Lambros Athanassoulas

  Touring Cars

    BTCC

      Race 1 Final Positions (Top 10)
        1. Colin Turkington
        2. Stephen Jelley
        3. Jason Plato
        4. Rob Collard
        5. Fabrizio Giovanardi
        6. Matt Neal
        8. Jonathan Adam
        8. Andrew Jordan
        9. Paul O'Neill
       10. Dave Pinkney

      Race 2 Final Positions (Top 10)
        1. Colin Turkington
        2. Stephen Jelley
        3. Jason Plato
        4. Rob Collard
        5. Fabrizio Giovanardi
        6. Matt Neal
        7. Andrew Jordan
        8. Adam Jones
        9. James Thompson
       10. Paul O'Neill

      Race 3 Final Positions (Top 10)
        1. Fabrizio Giovanardi
        2. James Thompson
        3. Stephen Jelley
        4. Andrew Jordan
        5. Jason Plato
        6. Colin Turkington
        7. Rob Collard
        8. Matt Neal
        9. Jonathan Adam
       10. Tom Chilton

  Sportscars

    The 24 Hours of Le Mans

      LMP1 (Top 3)
        1. Brabham/Gene/Wurz               Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi
        2. Bourdais/Montagny/Sarrazin      Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi
        3. Capello/Kristensen/McNish       Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R15 TDi

      LMP2 (Top 3)
        1. Elgaard/Poulsen/Collard         Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder
        2. Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou       Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola Judd Coupe
        3. Nicolet/Hein/Yvon               Oak Racing Pescarolo Mazda

      LMGT1 (Top 3)
        1. O'Connell/Magnussen/Garcia      Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R
        2. Jousse/Maasen/Clairay           Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R
        3. Lichtner-Hoyer/Gruber/Muller    Jetalliance Racing Aston Martin

      LMGT2 (Top 3)
        1. Melo/Kaffer/Salo                Risi Competizione Ferrari 430
        2. Babini/Malucelli/Ruberti        BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 430
        3. Krohn/Jonsson/van de Poele      Risi Competizione Ferrari 430