The "24 Hours of Le Mans" program starts this week.

      This week, the "24 Hours of Le Mans" program kicks off – this upcoming weekend, a technical inspection of the cars from all teams will take place in the very center of this city in northwestern France, which, by long-standing tradition, turns into a very vibrant show.

      But on the morning of Friday, June 5, numerous fans will gather not only in the main square of Le Mans: part of the audience will definitely head to M24, the new museum dedicated to the history of the 24-hour marathon, located at the legendary racetrack. By the way, this project was implemented under the personal patronage of Lewis Hamilton, who has never participated in this race but holds great respect for the historical heritage associated with it.

      The official opening of M24 took place on May 28, and it features a unique collection of famous cars that have distinguished themselves over the years at the Sarthe circuit.

      Now is the perfect time to visit this museum, even though the race in Le Mans will take place for the 94th time, and this is not a jubilee event. For example, five years ago, the Toyota GR010 became the first hypercar to win the 24-hour marathon, and in 2015, it was won by the factory team Porsche, which included Nico Hülkenberg.

      Twenty years ago, the diesel sports prototype Audi R10 won in Le Mans for the first time, and that same year, in the GT2 class, drivers racing the American sports car Panoz achieved success for the only time. A quarter of a century ago, another overseas team, Corvette Racing, celebrated its first victory in its category, and exactly 60 years ago, the Ford team with its famous sports car GT40 Mark II first defeated Ferrari.

      Finally, it is worth adding that it has also been exactly one hundred years since French drivers André Rossignol and Robert Bloch, racing the Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6, won, and this car became the first in history to cover the distance of the "24 Hours of Le Mans" with an average speed exceeding 100 km/h.

      This year, one can certainly expect that there will be plenty of interesting events as well, since 14 factory teams are participating in the race, showcasing cars from the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes, and more than 350,000 fans will be watching the battle on the track, who are already starting to gather in Le Mans these days.

      In the previous three years, drivers racing the Ferrari 499P hypercars won this marathon – they are considered favorites for 2026 as well. However, this season, the factory team Toyota has clearly stepped up, and at the recent WEC stage in Spa, the BMW drivers recorded a winning double. The Peugeot and Alpine teams certainly also want to stand out on their home track, but the Cadillac drivers dream of the same, who have been in the shadows during the first two WEC stages and have had bad luck, but now they are surely determined to make a comeback.

      In general, it will be interesting. The first practices will start on June 7, fan zones will open at the racetrack on June 9, and autograph sessions will take place, while qualifying sessions will begin on June 10. The official start ceremony is scheduled for 3:00 PM local time on Saturday, June 13, and exactly one hour later, the race will begin.

      At the same time, it is once again lamentable that the calendar of the most important events in the world of motorsport has been poorly arranged this year, as the "24 Hours of Le Mans" takes place on the same weekend as the Formula 1 stage in Barcelona. The marathon will finish on Sunday afternoon, when the Barcelona-Catalonia Grand Prix will be in full swing.