In honor of the 78th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010, the michelinracingusa.com staff offers 24 bits of Le Mans history, factoids and trivia. See www.michelinracingusa.com for updates, features and the complete list, plus Rick Dole photos.

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Team Essex won both the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge and LMP2 class victory at the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans. Photo credit: Rick Dole for Michelin North America

Note 11 of 24: Going Green

First introduced at the 2007 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the Michelin Energy Efficiency Challenge, the award was expanded to include all (European) Le Mans Series events on 2008. In 2009, the Michelin Green X Challenge was launched in cooperation with the American Le Mans Series, and the Le Mans and Le Mans Series awards were renamed. The first Asian awards were presented in the fall of 2009, to create a truly global program.