Earlier this year Rahal Letterman Racing announced its partnership with BMW to bring M3s back to ALMS GT2 in 2009. The Rahal Letterman deal is a new venture for BMW, putting its ALMS race operations in the hands of an unfamiliar crew. While Rahal Letterman is a proven open wheel race team, they are not one of the existing ALMS teams with prior BMW sports car racing experience. It is an interesting match-up that will be exciting to watch next year.

Click above for a high resolution gallery of the ALMS race at Laguna Seca

Many of the championships had already been wrapped up by the time the ALMS arrived at Laguna Seca for the last season of the race, but there were still a few battles to be won and you can always bet that none of the teams were about to back down in the name of competition. We were at the race as part of the Audi Mileage Marathon and were able to bring you a huge gallery of high resolution images that can be found in the gallery below. The race airs on NBC today at 2:00 p.m. EST, so you can still watch the race on television. However, If you want to know what happened, go ahead and follow the jump to read about the results of the race.

Click above for a high resolution image

Click above for high-res gallery of Audi at the 2008 Petit Le Mans

The latest in a string of reports on Le Mans Series rule changes could stand to really shake things up in the prototype classes in a few years. ACO, the French racing organizers which coordinate the European Le Mans Series and its headline event, are reportedly planning on banning V10s and V12s from the top-tier LMP1 class by 2011.

In their place, LMP1 would adopt the rules currently in place for LMP2, which means 3.4-liter V8s and 2.0-liter turbos. LMP2, meanwhile, would switch exclusively to production-based engines. Both Audi and Peugeot, who have dominated the series with their 12-cylinder turbodiesels, are reportedly in favor of the change in formula despite the need to send their engine development programs back to the drawing board.

click the R10 for a high res gallery from the Detroit race

Click the C6.R for a high-res gallery from the race

As part of the revival of the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle last year, the Detroit Sports Car Challenge was added as the highlight of Saturday's activities. The sports car race is back this year as the ninth round of the American Le Mans Series. For those who have never checked out an ALMS race, it's one of the best and most exciting forms of motorsport anywhere. Highcroft Racing's Acura ARX-01B captured the pole and led much of the first half of the race ahead of the De Ferran Racing Acura. If you TiVoed the race and don't want to ruin the surprise, you can just check out the gallery and come back later to see the full results after the jump. Otherwise, you know what to do.

Acura has announced at the Detroit Grand Prix that they will enter the LMP1 class in the American Le Mans Series in 2009, adding to its existing LMP2 effort. Honda's premium brand entered ALMS in the lighter LMP2 class at the beginning of 2007 with the Highcroft, Fernandez and Andretti-Green teams and won a single race that year. This year De Ferran motorsports has joined the lineup and Acura has four victories, including an overall win at Lime Rock in early July.