The 2015 Le Mans 24h race preview: Everything you need to know

Here's everything you need to know about the iconic race.

The race is held at the 13.6km (8.5 mile) circuit, which is located 200km south-west of Paris. The circuit itself is partly dedicated racetrack, but much of the course is made up of public roads.

The three qualifying sessions take place on Wednesday and Thursday, with the race beginning at 2pm BST (3pm local time) on Saturday. And finishing 24 hours later, obviously.

Qualifying and the entire race will be broadcast in high definition on British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2 on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th June. The full TV schedule is here.

And don't forget - you can watch the entire race LIVE on the newly-revamped Eurosport Player, available on your computer, laptop, iOS and Android.

Audi has been absolutely dominant in the race in recent years, claiming victory in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 - and before that they enjoyed another unbroken run from 2004-2009, with only Peugeot's 2009 victory breaking what is otherwise a decade-long sequence. The company's string of victories has been an incredible feat of both driver skill and engineering - with their cars mastering changing regulations by cutting fuel consumption by over a third in the past decade while still retaining their unmatchable pace.

The 4.0 diesel V6 is more powerful and less thirsty on fuel than ever before, and an electric motor adds 268bhp via various energy recovery systems - but more important than the sheer numbers could be the sheer reliability from a team who have shown time and again that they know how to win this race. The drivers of their three cars - Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer; Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis; and Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi and Rene Rast - will all be picturing themselves atop the podium already.

But this year, Porsche will fancy their chances of a first win since Laurent Aiello, Allan McNish and Stephane Ortelli's 1998 victory. The Stuttgart-based outfit have been the quickest car on the track in the opening two rounds of the World Endurance Championship, grabbing pole both times with a car powered by a 2.0-litre V4 turbo at the back wheels and an electic motor at the front.

On top of that, Porsche was quickest in the Le Mans pre-race tests at the end of May with a lap of three minutes 21.061 seconds - over a second faster than the race lap record. True, Audi has then gone on to win this season's two WEC races thanks to its longevity and reliability - but Porsche will fancy their chances of pulling something off.

Behind the wheel of their three cars will be ex-Red Bull F1 star Mark Webber with Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard; Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb; and Force India F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg with Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.

Toyota are also among the contenders, having claimed the WEC title last year and indeed pole position at Le Mans. With a hybrid engine system combining a 3.7-litre V8 with a pair of electric generators, the car develops almost 1,000bhp - almost 200bhp more than the Audi - and would have won last year's race had it not been for technical problems in the final hours. Anthony Davidson and his World Endurance co-champion team-mate Sebastien Buemi pilot the number one car along with ex-Williams F1 driver Kazuki Nakajima, while Mike Conway, Alex Wurz and Stephane Sarrazin are in the number two car.

Audi, Porsche and Toyota have dominated the WEC scene of late, but for 2015, there is a real wildcard in the pack: the Nissan GT-R LM. Uniquely, it sports what is effectively a front-engined, front-wheel-drive car. Having the power train up front is apparently helpful for aerodynamic performance, while the car also has an electric motor with the usual energy recovery systems - which is also capable of delivering power to the rear wheels - that combine to just over 1,000bhp.

Their three cars are driven by Tsugio Matsuda, Mark Shulzhitskiy and Lucan Ordonez; Harry Tincknell, Alex Buncombe and Michael Krumm; and ex-F1 racer Max Chilton, Jann Mardenborough and Olivier Pla.

AUDI (Oliver Jarvis): "Porsche definitely has more hybrid boost out of the corners, but on a very long straight, like at Le Mans, we’ll hopefully catch up once they’ve used their boost. The longer the straight and the higher the speed, the closer we get to them. Where we lose out is in tighter corners that are followed by short straights."

PORSCHE (Mark Webber): "“I didn’t do much night driving ahead of last year’s event, so it was important to get lots of experience of that in the race and also note how the track changes – where the tyre rubber builds up, and so on. It changes so much once the race gets underway and this is something you can’t experience in practice. I’ve also become more confident about passing backmarkers, so I think I’ll be a lot more relaxed this time around."

PORSCHE (Nico Hulkenberg): "It’s different, but it’s not too difficult to get used to. It’s definitely a big change from F1. When some people hear ‘endurance’ they think of cruising, saving the car and the tyres, but I learned quickly that it’s not. We’re flat out for every lap – the tyres are very consistent and this lets us push hard throughout… The driver can make a big difference here. You’re trying to anticipate what the car in front will do, position yourself well and be smart about it."

TOYOTA (Mike Conway): "We’ve done quite a lot of testing with the Le Mans aero package and we’re fairly confident with what we have. Driving these cars and getting the most out of the hybrid systems is quite an art, so I’m looking forward to getting on track there – we do lots of work in simulators, but it’s never quite the same as doing it for real. Audi looked good with high downforce at Silverstone, and Porsche is very quick in a straight line, but top speed isn’t a problem for us – it’s just how quickly we get there.”

NISSAN (Jann Mardenborough): "You have to adapt to understeer and, from a set-up perspective, what you ask your engineers for is often very different from what you’d ask for in a rear-wheel-drive car. The steering inputs are similar – you try to be as smooth as you can – but the way you come off the brakes is different and you pick up the throttle a little earlier than you would in a conventional racing car."