Britain is preparing to host the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and Le Mans Series at the 2011 Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone in what promises to be a spectacular weekend of entertainment on September 9th to 11th.

Not only will the event see 45 sports prototype and GT cars from Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lola, Lotus, Peugeot, Porsche and others but it also marks the 35th anniversary of the most prestigious sports car race in Britain.

The globetrotting 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup brings together the major manufacturer-backed teams for their fifth race in a seven-round calendar, which opened at the classic Sebring 12 Hours in America and races to a conclusion in China this November.

The European-based Le Mans Series adds top class competition across the prototype and GT categories, with the Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone coming as the fourth of five races.

Heading the field will be the raging battle between the mighty diesel-powered prototypes of Audi and Peugeot, which provided one of the closest finishes on record at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

The speed and spectacle of 210mph prototypes at full flight around the new Silverstone layout is expected to draw a huge turnout for the 6-hour marathon, as well as the exotic array of rivals across the classes. There will also be plenty for the bumper home crowd to cheer, not least with two-time Silverstone winner Allan McNish expected to lead Audi’s charge in a season-long battle with Peugeot.

“The goal is clearly to win, we need to get some more points for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup to keep in the fight and I personally would like a fourth Silverstone victory,” said McNish, who will share his Audi R18 with 8-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen.

The 41-year old from Dumfries has been a mainstay of Audi’s Le Mans programme since returning to sports cars from his Formula One career. This year the rivalry between Audi and Peugeot has been intense and McNish is relishing the prospect of another bout on home ground.

“The battle with Peugeot is always fierce and that is the way it should be, two big teams wanting to win,” he said.  “Sometimes there have been some incidents which put our car out of contention of a win, but that is often just ‘racing’ when the difference between winning and losing big races is measured in seconds.”

Peugeot’s fleet of 90X coupés is also brim full of talent, including ex-Formula one star Sébastien Bourdais. The team’s British driver – and 2010 Silverstone winner – Anthony Davidson is not certain to be competing for a repeat victory after sustaining a broken collarbone while training on his bicycle.

Returning to action in the top class will be Aston Martin Racing, wearing the iconic blue and orange colours of Gulf oil made famous in Steve McQueen’s movie, Le Mans. The Aston Martin’s howling V12 petrol engine makes a sharp contrast to the whisper-quiet diesels of Peugeot and Audi, and joins Lola, Pescarolo and Zytek in upholding petrol-powered honours in the senior class.

In the smaller LMP2 class, two British teams are among the frontrunners, with former British and World touring car championship-winning team RML fielding an HPD ARX coupé with Ben Collins – formerly known as The Stig – among its trio of drivers. An open-top HPD ARX is also entered by Silverstone-based Strakka Racing, with former British F3 champion Jonny Kane alongside Danny Watts and Nick Leventis.

In the junior prototype category, Formula Le Mans, the Wiltshire-based team Neil Garner Motorsport takes on rivals from Monaco, Germany and the USA. Adding to the glamour and spectacle of the event are the production-based supercars of the GT classes where Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin go head-to-head and British teams Jota, CRS, JMW and GruppeM Eterniti will be in the thick of the action.

The 2011 Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone marks the 20th running and 35th anniversary of Britain’s biggest sportscar event. A programme of celebrations marking the unique heritage of this flagship endurance race has been planned, and many of the star cars and drivers from the past are expected to join their modern-day counterparts.

The inaugural 6 Hours of Silverstone, in 1976, was won by the British pairing of Tom Walkinshaw and John Fitzpatrick at the wheel of a privately-entered BMW, which put up a heroic defence against the faster works cars of Porsche and BMW to take the chequered flag by just over a second. “We had a massive crowd for the whole weekend – practice, qualifying and the race itself,” Fitzpatrick remembered.

“I think that weekend was probably my most satisfying because we were hardly odds-on favourites. It was a very British team effort, a small band of brothers with Tom and myself as saloon car racers and the mechanics were boys who had also come up that way. It was a pleasure to drive that car and to win that race.”

A full schedule of support races includes the F3 Euro Series, where bright young talent will be aiming to follow in the wheeltracks of former champions Lewis Hamilton and Paul di Resta to Formula 1 success, the Speed Series for ‘junior’ Le Mans racers and the Classic Endurance Racing series for Le Mans cars from 1966-79 including the iconic Ford GT40, Ferrari Daytona and Porsche 935.

Weekend tickets are available at the advance booking price of just £29 for the three days or £23 for Sunday, including paddock access and grandstand seating. Children 15 and under go free.

 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup

Calendar                                                                                                  Manufacturers’ Points12 Hours of Sebring                                USA         19 March                                 LM P1                                      1000km Spa-Francorchamps  B              9 May                                      Peugeot                   132Le Mans 24 Hours                   F              11-12 June                              Audi                         896 Hours of Imola                     I               3 July                                       LM GTE6 Hours of Silverstone            GB           11 September                         Ferrari                     98Petit Le Mans                          USA         1 October                                BMW                       876 Hours of Zuhai                     CN           13 November                          Corvette                  73

Le Mans Series

Calendar                                                                                                  6 Hours of Le Castellet           F              3 April1000km Spa-Francorchamps  B              9 May6 Hours of Imola                     I               3 July6 Hours of Silverstone            GB           11 September6 Hours of Estoril                    PT            25 September

Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone – Fast Facts

First race: 9th May 1976Most wins (driver): Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx, 4Most wins (manufacturer): Porsche, 7British winners: John Fitzpatrick (1976, 1979), Tom Walkinshaw (1976), Alain de Cadenet (1980), Derek Bell (1983), Derek Warwick (1986), Martin Brundle (1988), Allan McNish (2004, 2005, 2008), Anthony Davidson (2010)