New Racecars for 2009: Audi, Acura, Peugeot, Mazda, BMW

Despite struggles throughout the auto industry worldwide, the field for the 57th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring includes brand new cars from five manufacturers - Audi, Acura, Peugeot, Mazda and BMW.

The Audi TDI diesels have dominated Le Mans style competition for years but will be getting a run for in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) opener this weekend at the historic Florida endurance event. The R15 Audi is lighter, slipperier with more tractable power from its new V10 diesel powerplant.

Audi had been expecting its major competition to come from Peugeot's latest - the 908 HDi, another extremely quick diesel Le Mans Prototype. The two makes have been battling for supremacy at Sebring and Le Mans for the past two years - edge in results going to Audi. Neither will contest the full ALMS schedule, which may be just as well for them given the turn of speed from the new Acura LMP1 entry.

Acura, which gave the Porsche Spyders a serious run the past two seasons in LMP2, has upped its program for 2009 with a pair of very quick ARX 02a models for LMP1 competition, one of which captured pole for Sebring by less than a tenth of a second over an Audi with Peugeot another tenth back.

Mazda has stepped up to fill a gap in the LMP2 category left by the departure of the entire Porsche Spyder contingent and the two Acura teams that moved up to LMP1. The veteran Dyson Racing Team has taken on the Mazda prototype program with a pair of Lola MZR-R B09/86 coupes, complete with air conditioning - a feature now found on a number of closed-cockpit race cars. The Dyson Lolas are powered by a little 163-pound, 16-valve, DOHC turbocharged 2.0-liter screamer.

BMW has re-entered ALMS competition with two E92 M3s for Rahal-Letterman Racing, both of the LMGT2 entries experiencing new-car teething problems in the run-up to the 12-Hour. The unibody M3 is powered by the P65 4.0-liter, 32-valve, DOHC aluminum V8 pumping out more than 450 horsepower.

The bottom line is that technology transfer, racing-to-street is still alive and well.