Eurosport will show 38 hours of original programming in the lead up to, and during this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, including live coverage of every practice and qualifying session and interviews in Le Mans Extra LIVE.

Eurosport Germany, meanwhile, is set to break the world record for the longest live broadcast of a single sporting event with 26-and-a-half hours of continuous coverage from Saturday afternoon through to Sunday.

As part of its build up to this year’s main event, Legends of Le Mans – an original Eurosport production filmed in Le Mans – will see nine-time race winner Tom Kristensen test four vintage cars to give a never-been-seen-before insight into what it was like to drive them around the legendary 13.6km circuit.

Kristensen will drive the 1924 Bentley, 1949 Ferrari 166 MM, 1967 Ford GT 40 and 1974 Matra SIMCA, four iconic cars synonymous with Le Mans.

The three-part mini-series airs within Le Mans Extra on Wed. June 13 (9:45 p.m.) and Thurs. June 14 (9 p.m.) All three episodes will be repeated in full in the build-up to the race on Sat. June 16 (1 p.m.) on Eurosport 1 and Eurosport Player.

Kristensen will spearhead Eurosport’s live coverage of the main race starting on Saturday 16 June, analyzing the best of the action as it happens during an eight-episode ‘series’ of The Coach.

He will be accompanied in the studio by Neil Cole, showcasing best-in-class innovations and augmented reality and presented from Eurosport’s on-site studio in Le Mans.

As well as having the most decorated Le Mans driver in history as part of its team, Eurosport will have Jennie Gow and Sam Hancock in the pit lane making sure fans are aware of everything going on behind-the-scenes during the race.

Former Le Mans winners Eric Helary, Benoit Treluyer and Henri Pescarolo will also join Kristensen on commentating duties for the network.

“With its prestige and incredible history, Le Mans remains one of the highlights on the sporting calendar and we’re incredibly excited to deliver an unrivaled program of activity which showcases the very best of Eurosport,” said Emir Osmanbegovic, SVP Sports Content and Production at Eurosport.

“We have the best build-up, the best experts and the best innovations. In short, Eurosport has every corner covered in 2018.”

Nine-time Le Mans winner Kristensen added: “I feel blessed to be able to offer my opinions about a race I have so much affection for to millions of viewers across Europe on Eurosport.

“Eurosport has a fantastic build-up to the race with lots of brilliant shows, including the Legends of Le Mans series which was so much fun to film. As someone who has so much respect for the heritage and history of the event, it was a real thrill to take a step back in time and experience some of the most iconic cars of years gone by.”

The race will be shown to millions of fans in over 100 markets and territories across the Eurosport network in Europe and Asia-Pacific region with local on-site commentary teams in English, French, German, Polish and Spanish.

The Eurosport commentary feed will also be carried on Velocity in the U.S., which will offer live and uninterrupted coverage of the race.

Program Schedule (all times CEST):

Wed. June 13

16-20h: Free Practice LIVE on Eurosport

2145-22h: Le Mans Extra LIVE

22-24h: Qualifying 1 LIVE on Eurosport

Thurs. June 14

1845-19h: Le Mans Extra LIVE

19-21h: Qualifying 2 LIVE on Eurosport

21-22h: Le Mans Extra LIVE

22-24h: Qualifying 3 LIVE on Eurosport

Fri. June 15

0835-10h: Qualifying Highlights

Sat. June 16

9-9.45h: Le Mans 24h Warm Up

13h: Pre-race coverage

1430-1500h: The Grid LIVE

1500h: Le Mans 24h of Le Mans starts

Sun. June 17

2030-2130h: Best of 2018

*All programmes on linear on Eurosport 1