Peugeot top first practice at Spa
| By Steven English |
Friday, May 9th 2008, 12:43 GMT |
Peugeot secured an early advantage over Audi by setting easily the quickest times in the first practice session for this weekend's Le Mans Series race at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Audis of Rinaldo Capello and Mike Rockenfeller started the session quicker than their rivals, but Peugeot put some considerable distance between them once their 908 HDis got up to speed.
Nicolas Minassian set the fastest time of practice aboard the No. 7 Peugeot, a 2:00.567, before former world champion Jacques Villeneuve took over for his first taste of the Spa circuit in the 908 at the end of the session.
Pedro Lamy put the sister car in second place, before fellow former grand prix driver Alex Wurz took over and improved the time lie 1.3 seconds behind Minassian.
Allan McNish knocked a second off the No. 1 Audi R10's best time in the second half of the session, but still finished up two and a half seconds adrift of Minassian's time.
Alexandre Premat only just held fourth place in the No. 2 Audi, just a tenth of a second quicker than Olivier Panis's best time in the Courage Oreca he's sharing with Nicolas Lapierre.
Jos Verstappen was flying again in the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder and was sixth fastest overall, easily the best of the LMP2 class cars. He finished just ahead of the two works Pescarolos and the Lola Aston Martin.
The Team Essex Porsche were second in LMP2, 10th overall, with the Barazi Epsilon Zytek completing the top three in the class 13th overall.
The Luc Alphand Corvette was top of the GT1 class, narrowly edging out the Team Modena Aston Martin.
Rob Bell and Gianmaria Bruni were quickest again in GT2, but the Felbermayr Porsche of Marc Lieb and Alex Davison was less than half a second behind.
Pos Driver Car Time Class
1. Gene/Minassian/Villeneuve Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 2:00.567 LMP1
2. Lamy/Sarrazin/Wurz Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 2:01.877 LMP1
3. Capello/McNish Audi R10 TDI 2:03.197 LMP1
4. Premat/Rockenfeller Audi R10 TDI 2:04.456 LMP1
5. Panis/Lapierre Courage-Oreca Judd 2:04.584 LMP1
6. Van Merksteijn/Verstappen Porsche RS Spyder 2:05.013 LMP2
7. Collard/Boullion Pescarolo Judd 2:05.309 LMP1
8. Mucke/Charouz Lola Aston Martin 2:06.317 LMP1
9. Primat/Tinseau Pescarolo Judd 2:07.007 LMP1
10. Elgaard/Nielsen Porsche RS Spyder 2:08.658 LMP2
11. Burgueno/De Castro Epsilon Euskadi Judd 2:08.776 LMP1
12. Barbosa/Ickx Pescarolo Judd 2:08.886 LMP1
13. Barazi/Vergers/Rees Zytek 07S Zytek 2:09.127 LMP2
14. Amaral/Pla Lola B05/40 AER 2:09.287 LMP2
15. Hall/Ortiz Creation CA07 - Aim 2:09.420 LMP1
16. Lienhard/Theys/Lammers Porsche RS Spyder 2:09.654 LMP2
17. Erdos/Newton MG Lola EX 265 MG 2:10.076 LMP2
18. Hughes/Kane WF01 Zytek 2:10.102 LMP2
19. Kimber-Smith/Foster WF01 Zytek 2:11.252 LMP2
20. Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia Lola B08/80 Coupe Judd 2:11.928 LMP2
21. de Pourtales/Noda Lola B05/40 Mazda 2:12.297 LMP2
22. Rostan/Peterson/Lueders Radical SR9 AER 2:13.376 LMP2
23. Nicolet/Faggionato/Hein Pescarolo Judd 2:13.672 LMP1
24. Ojjeh/Gosselin/Schroyen Zytek 07S Zytek 2:15.485 LMP2
25. Alphand/Moreau/Goueslard Corvette C6.R 2:16.574 GT1
26. Garcia/Enge Aston Martin DBR9 2:17.102 GT1
27. Lavaggi/Kaufmann Lavaggi LS1 AER 2:19.307 LMP1
28. Rusinov/Kox Lamborghini Murcielago 2:19.625 GT1
29. Ragues/Lahaye Pescarolo Judd 2:19.894 LMP2
30. Blanchemain/Dumez/Lemeret Corvette C6.R 2:20.496 GT1
31. Hardman/Leventis Aston Martin DBR9 2:21.162 GT1
32. Bell/Bruni Ferrari F430 GT 2:21.903 GT2
33. Lieb/Davison Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:22.398 GT2
34. Narac/Lietz Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:23.549 GT2
35. Salini/Salini/Roussel WR Zytek 2:23.571 LMP2
36. Nielsen/Westbrook/Simonsen Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:23.940 GT2
37. Ehret/Kaffer Ferrari F430 GT 2:24.153 GT2
38. Kutemann/Basso/Daoudi Ferrari F430 GT 2:25.499 GT2
39. Daniels/Paltalla/Sugden Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:26.861 GT2
40. Balandras/Lecourt Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:27.275 GT2
41. Dumbreck/Kelleners/Vasiliev Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R 2:27.329 GT2
42. Ried/Felbermayr/Felbermayr Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:27.644 GT2
43. Chiesa/Leuenberger/Iradj Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R 2:28.659 GT2
44. Aucott/Ferte Ferrari F430 GT 2:30.927 GT2
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