Motor Racing: Jaguar poised for Le Mans return

JAGUAR plan a return to the Le Mans 24-hour race this year. Their contender for the new era of sportscar racing was unveiled at the Auto Sports International show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, yesterday.

The XJ220-C is being prepared for the proposed European GT series and the French classic. Tom Walkinshaw Racing, which runs the Jaguar team, will make a final decision when the regulations are formally presented by Fisa, the sport's governing body. The signs are, however, that the British marque will be at Le Mans in June after missing the event last year. Since then the Sportscar World Championship has been abolished, and Jaguar are ready to meet the fresh challenge.

Walkinshaw said of the 3.5-litre twin turbo V6-powered car: 'Hopefully, this will be racing at Le Mans and in the GT series. This is what the public wants, a car that identifies closer to the cars they see on the road.'

The third stage of the Paris-Dakar Rally was cancelled yesterday because so many drivers had failed to finish the second stage in time. Only six motorcyclists out of 33 and 66 cars and trucks out of 103 reached the end of the second stage at El Golea, Algeria, by 2 am local time. Organisers blamed difficult terrain in Wednesday's stage from Beni Ounif for the delay.

Standings, Sport in Short, page 31