Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer believes that winning the World Endurance Championship title this year means more than his 2012 triumph with Audi.

The German, who sealed the crown in Bahrain on Saturday with Porsche Penske Motorsport team-mates Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, suggested that his second world crown conveys more prestige than the maiden triumph secured in the inaugural season of the reborn WEC.

“There is more recognition for such an achievement in today’s circumstances,” Lotterer told Motorsport.com.

“You have to look at how the championship has come a long way.

“A lot of manufacturers have come, and they haven’t come just to participate – everyone has come to win.

“The competition now and the Balance of Performance that levels the field means the execution, operation and strategy, doing the perfect job through the season, is what is rewarded.

“I would say it is quite meaningful.”

Race winners #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and #2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish crosses the line

Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images

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Lotterer stressed that he wasn’t necessarily picking this year’s Hypercar title with the Porsche 963 LMDh over his 2012 success with the Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 as a more significant highlight of his career.

“I wouldn’t say it means more to me, it’s just different,” said Lotterer, who is leaving the PPM squad for next season after Porsche’s decision to reduce its full-season driver line-up to two drivers.

“But we were quite dominant in 2012 and there wasn’t that much competition if i am honest.”

LMP1 newcomer Toyota was Audi’s only factory rival that season after it made a late decision to undertake more than a limited number of development races, its original plan following Peugeot’s withdrawal shortly before the start of the season.

Lotterer suggested that the world title should no longer be viewed as the poor relation to victory at Le Mans.

While Porsche won the drivers’ title this year with Lotterer, Estre and Vanthoor, it could manage a best finish of fourth in the 92nd running of Le Mans. 

“Previously in LMP1, Le Mans was the thing everyone wanted; it was all about Le Mans back then, he explained.

He added that back in the early years of the WEC revival “you kind of thought you’d lost the season” with a failure to win at Le Mans.

He described winning Le Mans with co-champions Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler as the “heroic part” of a WEC campaign in 2012 that included a further two victories and four podiums.

That is a reference to the Lotterer and his team-mates coming out on top in the battle with the sister Audi driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello despite the failure of hybrid system on their R18 early in the race.

Lotterer, 42, has no intention of retiring after losing his PPM drive with the end of his contract.

He revealed before the Bahrain 8 Hours that he is in talks with Porsche about a possible new role and is also in contact with other manufacturers.

News broke on Tuesday evening that James Anderson had put his name forward for the IPL auction.

The 42-year-old retired from international cricket in July and has not played a T20 since 2014. He has never played in a franchise T20 league.

There have been 41 other England players that have featured in the IPL, but how many can you name?

That’s the challenge ahead. We’ve given you the role they play and the sides they’ve featured for (if the team has changed name since, we’ve given you the current one).

You’ll have two guesses for each player. Good luck!

West Ham winger Mohammed Kudus has been handed a further two-game ban after admitting violent conduct following his red card against Tottenham Hotspur.

Kudus sparked a melee in the 82nd minute of the game as West Ham lost 4-1 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 19 October.

He was initially shown a yellow card for a foul on Micky van de Ven, but he proceeded to push both the Dutch defender and Pape Matar Sarr in the face.

The additional suspension extends his ban from three to five games, meaning he will be eligible to return against Leicester City on 3 December.

Kudus has also been fined £60,000 and West Ham were fined £30,000 for failing to control the behaviour of their players.

The Ghana international has scored two goals in eight Premier League appearances this season.

ARNE SLOT has had no trouble slotting right into the gaping hole left by Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

The Dutchman has guided the Reds to a sensational start to the season, breaking a 20-year record in the process.

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A 4-0 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen means that Slot’s Liverpool side are now top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables.

While his team have lost just ONE of their first 16 games under the guidance of the former Feyenoord boss.

In fact, Liverpool have won 14 of those 16 games – making Slot the most successful Premier League manager in history in his first 16 games in charge.

The 46-year-old has toppled Jose Mourinho off that list of bosses, with the Special One managing 13 wins out of 16 when he first arrived at Chelsea in 2004.

While Carlo Ancelotti also achieved the same record during his first season with the Blues in 2009.

Slot has beaten a number of other top gaffers to the title, bettering the records of former Chelsea trio Avram Grant, Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri.

While also winning two more games than Unai Emery managed in his first 16 matches in charge of Arsenal as Arsene Wenger‘s successor.

Liverpool have only dropped points to Nottingham Forest and Arsenal so far this season.

Slot’s record breaking stat

New Premier League managers with the most wins after 16 games in all competitions…

• Arne Slot: 14 (Liverpool, 2024)
• José Mourinho: 13 (Chelsea, 2004)
• Carlo Ancelotti: 13 (Chelsea, 2009)
• Avram Grant: 12 (Chelsea, 2007)
• Antonio Conte: 12 (Chelsea, 2016)
• Unai Emery: 12 (Arsenal, 2018)
• Maurizio Sarri: 12 (Chelsea, 2018)

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While the Merseyside club have conceded just six goals in the Prem and only once in Europe.

But the incredible start may be about to hit its toughest test so far.

Liverpool’s next five fixtures in all competitions include clashes against Real Madrid, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Newcastle United.

However, Slot doesn’t seem fazed by the task at hand, suggesting that his team will be competing on all fronts this season.

Speaking after their victory over Leverkusen, he said: “In our position there’s alway pressure, and this is the pressure we give ourselves as well.

“If you work at Liverpool, or if you play at Liverpool as a player or as a manager, you know the manager that is going to come next.

“And so many other great players have set the standards so high over here that there always feels like there is a bit of pressure.

“But we also embrace this [pressure], because that’s also what we want. We want to be where we are now. We want to compete for everything.”

Cody Garbrandt and Miles Johns should hope the third time is a charm if they’re ever going to fight.

MMA Fighting confirmed with sources with knowledge of the change that Garbrandt has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bantamweight bout against Johns, which was to take place at UFC Vegas 100 this Saturday. The news was first reported by BJPENN.com.

It is the second time Garbrandt and Johns have been booked to fight and seen their date fall through. The two were expected to fight at UFC Vegas 98 this past October, but the bout was moved to Nov. 9 for undisclosed reasons.

Officials are searching for a new opponent to face Johns on Saturday. It is not yet known if they will attempt to schedule Garbrandt vs. Johns again in the future.

Garbrandt competed once in 2024, losing to Deiveson Figueiredo via submission at UFC 300 this past April. For Johns, he looks to keep a win streak going after defeating his past three opponents (excluding one no-contest).

Damon Martin contributed to this report.

DS Penske’s Maximilian Guenther finished the second day of Formula E pre-season testing in Jarama fastest, just 0.031s clear of Kiro’s Dan Ticktum.

The German posted a 1m28.408s in the final hour of the afternoon session at the Jarama Circuit just outside Madrid, which is hosting Formula E testing this week after the flooding in Valencia.

How Formula E resolved its logistical nightmare to save its pre-season test

DS Penske team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne finished the day third fastest, just 0.152s behind his new stablemate as teams get to grips with the new Gen3 Evo machines, which include all-wheel-drive this season.

Splitting the pair was Ticktum, who in the morning session had become the first driver to go below the 1m29s barrier driving for the newly rebranded Kiro team, which was formally ERT.

The second Kiro machine of Formula E rookie David Beckmann finished the second day of running fourth with a late effort that put the German less than two tenths behind Guenther’s time.

Like Ticktum, Beckmann has yet to be confirmed with Kiro for the upcoming season which gets underway in Sao Paulo on 7 December.

Dan Ticktum, Kiro Race Co

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

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The Mahindra’s of Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara finished fifth and sixth after moving up the leaderboard in the final 15 minutes on Wednesday, the former also completing the joint most laps on 46.

Nick Cassidy finished seventh, the Kiwi having come to a stop out on track in the morning session along the start/finish straight after his Jaguar lost drive, which brought out a second red flag inside the final 25 minutes.

The first stoppage occurred just as the opening hour of running was completed, Sam Bird having gone off at Turn 1 and beaching his McLaren.

The Briton was left down in 20th and behind team-mate Taylor Barnard during the afternoon session and some four seconds adrift, but both completed impressive mileage on 46 and 45 laps respectively.

Maserati MSG’s Jake Hughes had set the fastest time in the morning session with a 1m28.604s, which was some eight tenths quicker than the fastest lap managed by Antonio Felix da Costa on the first day of running.

Hughes and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne finished the afternoon session 21st and 22nd in the standings and seven seconds off the pace but had been circulating together for large portions to practice race simulations.

Sam Bird, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Two further days of action are set to take place on Thursday and Friday, with a simulation race due to be held on Thursday afternoon where the pit boost technology will be trialled ahead of being possibly implemented this season.

An all-female test is also due to still go ahead on Friday afternoon, with Indy NXT driver Jamie Chadwick and F1 Academy championship leader Abbi Pulling set to drive.