FOX Sports opens its live coverage of the 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday, June 13 (8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET) on FOX Sports 2 and FOX Sports GO, with Bob Varsha leading a nine-member FOX Sports broadcast team.

Varsha captains a team that includes fellow play-by-play/host Brian Till, analysts Calvin Fish, Jamie Howe, Tommy Kendall and Darren Law, with Justin Bell and Andrew Marriott reporting from the pits at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Former racer and veteran broadcast journalist Sam Posey offers exclusive perspective and essays.

"With 56 cars, 168 drivers, some unique rules and more than 80 years of history, Le Mans would be a huge challenge even if it were a 10-lap sprint," said Varsha (LEFT). "There's a lot to absorb, but our team on both sides of the camera has been compiling background notes for weeks. It helps that many of the drivers already are familiar to us from our FOX Sports coverage of the World Endurance Championship, while others have appeared in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and even Formula E.

"Another key challenge is keeping everyone on the broadcast rested, and we are fortunate to have a group of announcers with resumes that give us staffing flexibility," Varsha added. "For example, Brian and Calvin are proven broadcast hosts as well as former racers, so they can perform in either role. Sam, Darren and Tommy have all competed at Le Mans, while Jamie will bring her years of experience in the pit lane to the booth, so we can mix and match announcers and keep everyone fresh through the 24 hours. Justin and Andrew in the pits are all-rounders as well, so maybe we'll just put the show in their hands overnight and go get some sleep!"

Adds Howe, who makes the move to the booth after five years in the pits at Le Mans, beginning in 2010: "Being involved in the 24 Hours of Le Mans broadcast in any role is a special opportunity. Being moved to the FOX Sports booth is a new challenge that I am excited to take on. My role in the show won't be changing much, as I am still preparing to give viewers an inside look at the event and its participants. I've been talking to manufacturers and teams for the last few weeks, getting information I would normally get in preparation to cover pit lane. I'm looking forward to contributing to the broadcast and being a part of the team again."

Now available to 85 million pay-TV customers, FOX Sports GO, the app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content at home or on the go, offers live continuous streaming of the 24 Hours, including the non-telecast hours. Customers of participating video providers may access the live streams of the race through FOX Sports GO on iOS, Android, Fire tablets and Fire phones, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, select Windows devices, and online at FOXSportsGO.com.

FOXSports.com offers full editorial coverage of the race, photos, fast-turn videos and live streaming on-board camera options through FOX Sports GO, including a multi-camera Corvette streaming page: www.foxsports.com/corvette/.

As Formula 1 veteran Mark Webber prepares for his second run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of the factory Porsche 919 Hybrid team, he says leaving F1 at the end of 2013 for the World Endurance championship was fortuitously timed. With F1 in the midst of an identity crisis with its cars and the overall impact of its races, Webber’s switch to the WEC has coincided with the series – and Le Mans – happening upon another golden age of speed and excitement.

“I was super, super fortunate with the timing basically that took my career to where I am today,” he told RACER. “I chose the right time to stop with F1 and come to the WEC. I had a long career in F1, which I’m super proud of, and just in the end, as we see now in the last three or four years, it started to lose something from the driver’s side. They’ve trimmed lap times and in race specification, and come so far from where it was. That’s been disappointing.”

Starting a second chapter in a career that now spans three decades has been a blessing for Webber, and with more than 900hp at his disposal in the red No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid he shares with Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard (pictured left and right, TOP, with Webber), today’s prototypes demand his full attention.

“Even if the F1 cars were super, super quick at the end of my career it was definitely time for me, and I was in the window to look at something different,” Webber continued. “Do I want to stop completely? No. What’s the next best thing? It’s the phone call from Porsche. Are you going to listen? Absolutely. And they said they’re going to return to Le Mans, going to race in the WEC, and it’s going to be bloody fast.

“The rewarding nature is that the cars now, for me as a driver, force you to operate at the highest level. No, I’m not 22 anymore, but I have a huge amount of experience and I’m still hungry to have good success, and to build on the success that Porsche’s had, which is obviously colossal. It’s a great burden to have and people expect us to have great results. I’m fine with that. That’s great. And we’re in an exceptional time for sports car racing. To race this car for Porsche…I’m very fortunate.”

Webber will be joined by Sahara Force India F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg at Le Mans, and says the German’s reaction to the pace and ferocity of the LMP1-Hybrid cars mirrors his own views on where the WEC stands in relation to F1.

“People always ask me, 'What has been what’s the difference between F1 and sports cars?'” he noted. “2005, 2006, 2007, Formula 1 was on its own, but in the last few years, obviously, the two series have never been closer. Nico Hulkenberg comes across and says: ‘I’m pushing, I’m pushing every lap in the Porsche; in Formula 1 it’s more of an endurance nature!’ People don’t want to hear that too often, but it’s the truth.”

After spending 13 years in F1, Webber is keen to see the series return to a more interesting formula, but with his role as a “cog in the wheel at Porsche,” he’ll keep an eye on F1’s progress from afar.

“I love Formula 1; I want it to be the pinnacle, I want it to be the best drivers, the best of everything,” he explained. “But Formula 1 certainly lost some of that in the last few years. I said to Paul Hembery from [F1 tire supplier] Pirelli – ‘We’re qualified to fly F-18s but we’re flying for Lufthansa.’ And the drivers know that. My guess is you’ll see more [F1] drivers look this way because sports cars have a lot to offer.”