June 8, 2011 - At this year's Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, Honda's CR-Z hybrid coupe will feature in a special exhibition ("Le Mans vers le Futur") looking at the future of the legendary event.

The organizers of Le Mans 24 Hours, the ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest), is committed to making its world famous event more sustainable and so for the second year is organizing a special exhibition called "Le Mans vers le Futur" devoted to showcasing the Le Mans racing cars of the future.

The displayed cars, including the CR-Z hybrid coupe, will also run demonstration laps around the track, driven by famous drivers before the start of the official race.

Honda, which pioneered the mass production of hybrid cars, first unveiled a competition version of its hybrid coupe at last year's SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The car was developed by Honda Performance Development (HPD), the "racing arm" of American Honda. Shortly afterwards it was entered into its first race, finishing second in its class at Thunderhill 25 Hours, a circuit near San Francisco.

HPD has developed the car to be tested in real race conditions to discover technical solutions specific to hybrids.

In Europe, the CR-Z Racer is used as a pace car as part of Speed EuroSeries (www.speedeuroseries.com).