Penske's still very much a force on this side of the pond, the Indycar team has had a successful, if somewhat bumpy season, mostly due to mistake's by their drivers, and some on track run-ins with other teams (yesterday Power got taken out by Franchitti fighting for the lead in Toronto) and his NASCAR teams had have a great deal of success this year. He mentioned that he see Le Mans as unfinished business, having only competed there once, in '71 with a Ferrari 512M driven by Mark Donohue and David Hobbs.
The recent success of the Spyder program could tip things in favor of Penske, but as you say, it may depend on what Audi does, and if Joest is available.
Fax