Peugeot claims Spa victory
Peugeot claimed a narrow victory in the Spa round of the Le Mans Series
Nicolas Minassian, Simon Pagenaud and Christian Klien led the whole race in the best of the 908 HDi turbodiesels, yet only had 27 seconds in hand at the chequered flag courtesy of a sequence of safety cars.
The lead Pescarolo-Judd driven by Jean-Christophe Boullion and Christophe Tinseau finished second, but never looked like a contender for victory.
The second 908 ended up 13th after Peugeot debutant David Brabham brushed a slower car. The incident proved to be a double whammy: five laps were lost to rear suspension repairs and another two to a four-minute stop-go penalty for avoidable contact.
Pagenaud, who also claimed pole on his first race for Peugeot, said: "It was the perfect weekend; I haven't had many weekends like this."
Tinseau claimed the runner-up spot from ORECA driver Nicolas Lapierre in the closing stages. The Pescarolo was closing on the second-placed car when Lapierre tangled with a slower car at Eau Rouge and spun.
This incident and a late stop under yellows dropped the AIM-engined ORECA, now in the hands of Olivier Panis, behind the lead Aston Martin Racing entry driven by Stefan Mucke, Jan Charous and Tomas Enge, which had come through from the back of the grid.
The Danish Essex Porsche team claimed victory in a very close LMP2 battle ahead of the Speedy Sebah Lola-Judd. Prototype debutant Kristian Poulsen held on to take the win by six tenths of a second from Benjamin Leuenberger.
The Luc Alphand Aventures Chevrolet team overturned its defeat at the hands of the Reiter Lamborghini squad at the LMS opener at Barcelona to take GT1 honours. GT2 victory went to the lead Felbermayr Proton Porsche.
The race was interrupted by two major accidents involving LMP1 prototypes. Bruce Jouanny crashed the second Pescarolo-Judd when a wheel broke at the bottom of Eau Rouge and Bruno Senna lost control of the second ORECA at Blanchimont late in the race.
Pos Cl Drivers Car Time/gap
1. P1 Minassian/Pagenaud/Klien Peugeot 908 5h45m35.429s
2. P1 Boullion/Tinseau Pescarolo Judd + 27.622s
3. P1 Charouz/Enge/Mucke Lola Aston Martin + 1 lap
4. P1 Panis/Lapierre Oreca AIM + 1 lap
5. P1 Primat/Ramos/Turner Lola Aston Martin + 1 lap
6. P1 Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman Audi R10 TDI + 2 laps
7. P1 Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini Audi R10 TDI + 4 laps
8. P2 Elgaard/Collard/Poulsen Porsche RS Spyder + 4 laps
9. P2 Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou Lola Judd + 4 laps
10. P1 Belicchi/Fassler/Prost Lola Aston Martin + 4 laps
11. P1 Ragues/Mailleux Oreca Judd + 5 laps
12. P2 Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini Lola Judd + 6 laps
13. P1 Gene/Wurz/Brabham Peugeot 908 + 7 laps
14. P2 Barazi/Rees Zytek + 9 laps
15. GT1 Alphand/Goueslard/Clairay Corvette C6.R + 11 laps
16. P2 Lahaye/Ajlani Pescarolo Mazda + 11 laps
17. GT1 Salaquarda/Kox/Janis Lamborghini + 12 laps
18. P1 Kerr/Smith/Tomlinson Ginetta Zytek + 13 laps
19. P1 Watts/Leventis/Hardman Ginetta Zytek + 14 laps
20. GT2 Lieb/Lietz/Felbermayr Porsche 997 + 14 laps
21. GT2 Garcia/Mansell/Melo Ferrari F430 + 14 laps
22. P2 Bruneau/Greaves/Coleman Radical AER + 14 laps
23. GT2 Bell/Bruni Ferrari F430 + 15 laps
24. GT2 Ehret/Farnbacher Ferrari F430 + 15 laps
25. GT2 Coronel/Dumbreck Spyker C8 + 15 laps
26. GT2 Pilet/Narac Porsche 997R + 16 laps
27. P2 Schell/Thirion Courage AER + 16 laps
28. GT2 Cocker/Drayson Aston Martin + 17 laps
29. GT2 Mcinerney/Mcinerney/Vergers Ferrari F430 + 18 laps
30. GT2 Griffin/Bamford Ferrari F430 + 19 laps
31. GT2 Palttala/Daniels Porsche 997R + 19 laps
32. P2 Noda/Sini/Marsh Lola Mazda + 28 laps
33. GT1 Lichtner-Hoyer/Gruber/Muller Aston Martin DBR9 + 30 laps
34. GT2 Ried/Felbermayr/Martins Porsche 997R + 31 laps
35. P2 Salini/Salini/Gommendy WR Zytek + 33 laps
36. P2 Amaral/Pla Ginetta Zytek + 42 laps
Retirements:
GT2 Von Thurn/Bouchut Lamborghini 99 laps
P2 Comblot/Cortes/Montserrat Lucchini Judd 88 laps
P1 Lavaggi/Kaufmann Lavaggi AER 49 laps
P1 Ortelli/Senna Oreca AIM 129 laps
GT2 Simonsen/Kaffer Ferrari F430 110 laps
P2 Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter Zytek 80 laps
GT2 Tenchini/Basso/Plati Ferrari F430 75 laps
GT2 Hartshorne/Rodrigues/Kralev Ferrari F430 57 laps
P1 Jouanny/Barbosa Pescarolo Judd 53 laps
GT2 Rosa/Montermini/Petrobelli Ferrari F430 53 laps
P2 Erdos/Newton Lola Mazda 47 laps
P2 Ibanez/Da Rocha/Cavailhes Courage AER 41 laps
P2 Randaccio/Solieri Lucchini McLaren 35 laps
P2 Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini Lola Judd 7 laps
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