The new regulations coming into force in 2011 will lead to the return of the test day in April or
May. It will take place at least a month before the 79th Le Mans 24 Hours on 11th-12th June.
Pre-race practice has been organised 34 times in 77 Le Mans 24 Hours. In the sixties they were know as the April Practice Days and they then had several official names: preparatory practice, prequalifying, preliminary practice and in 2005, the Test Day. The last format dates from 2008 when the test day became part of the Le Mans week, as it was held on the Sunday before scrutineering.
In 2009, the ACO was obliged to cancel the test day because of the economic situation. The
introduction of new regulations, which will lead to the arrival of a new generation of cars, decided the club to bring back the test day with the agreement of the manufacturers and teams.
Thus, everybody will be able to take advantage of this test session to shakedown their cars on the very special long Le Mans circuit. They will then have enough time to carry out the necessary modifications to setups etc before the race itself.