The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) has announced that it will postpone the 2008 Shanghai Le Mans race.

Organisers have chosen to reschedule the race for 2009 as a result of the current economical recession and the intense activity of the 2008 Olympics – to which many Chinese companies are bound.

Scheduled to be held at the end of 2008, the race would have been the first event in Shanghai to bear the Le Mans name.

Despite this setback the ACO still intends to go ahead with the launch of the Asian Le Mans series in China and Japan in 2009.

See www.lemans.org for further updates.