#3 Peugeot wins bizarre Spa 1000kms

The #3 908 HDi FAP was the frontrunner whose strategy fell into the circumstances with the most fortune, but also put together as faultless a race as was possible in the most challenging of conditions.

"I hope there are not too many races as crazy as this or I won't live for very long!" said Bourdais afterwards.

The #7 Audi, driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello, may have been in control of the race for much of the first two hours - thanks to a well-timed pitstop just as an early safety car emerged from the pits, which gave the car a 50s advantage over the fleet of Peugeots. But after the power cut-induced red flag, it was the #3 car that wrested control of the race.

Capello regained the lead quite quickly after the red flag but was quickly hauled in by Bourdais as the race reached the halfway mark.

The next 30 minutes provided some enthralling racing as the Frenchman diced with the Audi man, briefly passing him at La Source only for the low-downforce R15 TDI to pass him back up the straight.

But when it came time for them both to pit, Capello's need for new tyres cost him the lead and he would never regain it.

Bourdais built a substantial advantage through the rest of his stint and things looked dandy as he handed over to Pagenaud.

A heavy accident for Christopher Nygaard in the GT1 Aston Martin at Blanchimont with 70 minutes of the race to go brought another full-course caution, which allowed the leaders to all pit except for Tom Kristensen, who had taken over from Capello by this point.

When the rain came with 35 minutes left, it looked like things might close up as Kristensen opted to pit for some intermediates and immediately took chunks out of Pagenaud's 70s lead. But while the American Le Mans Series championship leader ran over the grass at La Source he was never really in danger of losing his lead, and as the rain eased again he consolidated to win the race.

In fact it was Kristensen who found himself under attack as the recovering #2 Peugeot of Stephane Sarrazin stormed up behind the Audi and passed it on the pit straight in the final few laps of the race.

That this car finished second was quite remarkable given it was rebuilt following Montagny's accident immediately prior to the power cut. The fact that the car he crashed into, the KSM Lola, was not allowed to be repaired during parc ferme conditions remains a point of contention.

Regardless of the circumstance it was a brilliant drive by Montagny, who did a marathon stint that lastest more than three and a half hours, and Sarrazin, reminiscent of their Road Atlanta victory last year.

Audi therefore was forced to settle for third ahead of the last of the factory Peugeots, which also had a late scare when Marc Gene crashed at Brussels in the rain. The Spaniard recovered in time to save his position from Mike Rockenfeller in the #9 Audi.

Rockenfeller's team-mate Romain Dumas believed this car should have been right in contention, but was one of many to have been caught out by the red flag. He was furious that he been held in the pits for two minutes when he stopped under the safety car when the race resumed.

Miguel Amaral finished sixth overall and first in the LMP2 class after a race-long battle for victory with the RML Lola. The race was secured for the Quifel Ginetta squad when Andy Wallace was forced to wait in the pits during his stop under the final safety car.

The Oak Racing Pescarolos of Guillaume Moreau and Mathieu LaHaye finished third and fourth.

Marc Lieb cruised to victory for Felbermayr Porsche in the GT2 category after his closest contenders all fell foul of penalties. Jamie Melo's Ferrari and the Schnitzer BMW of Jorg Muller both got drivethroughs for excessive use of run-off, and both also were hampered by the red flag confusion.

In the end Melo brought the AF Corse Ferrari home second, though only after an intense dice with his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella in the closing stages. So heated was it that they allowed Andy Priaulx to catch them right up in the final laps of the race.

The Marc VDS Ford of Dominik Kraihamer, Markus Palttala and Bas Leinders took a one-lap victory in GT1 over the Larbre Competition Saleen.

Steve Zacchia, Wolfgang Kaufmann and Luca Moro won the Formula Le Mans honours.

Pos  Drivers                            Cl   Car                 Time/Gap
 1.  Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud             P1   Peugeot         6h00m39.012s
 2.  Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian        P1   Peugeot          + 1m08.308s
 3.  Capello/Kristensen/Mcnish          P1   Audi             + 1m26.215s
 4.  Gene/Wurz/Davidson                 P1   Peugeot             + 1 laps
 5.  Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller        P1   Audi                + 2 laps
 6.  Amaral/Pla                         P2   Ginetta-Zytek       + 9 laps
 7.  Erdos/Newton/Wallace               P2   Lola HPD            + 9 laps
 8.  Moreau/Hein                        P2   Pescarolo-Judd     + 10 laps
 9.  Lahaye/Nicolet                     P2   Pescarolo-Judd     + 11 laps
10.  Geri/Piccini/Piccini               P2   Lola-Judd          + 11 laps
11.  Belicchi/Boullion                  P1   Lola-Rebellion     + 12 laps
12.  Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer          P1   Audi               + 13 laps
13.  Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx               P1   Lola-Aston         + 14 laps
14.  Zacchia/Kaufmann/Moro              FLM  FLM ORECA          + 15 laps
15.  Lieb/Lietz                         GT2  Porsche            + 15 laps
16.  Schell/da Rocha                    P2   Courage-ORECA      + 16 laps
17.  Leinders/Palttala/de Doncker       GT1  Ford               + 16 laps
18.  Kraihamer/de Crem/Delhez           FLM  FLM ORECA          + 16 laps
19.  Bruni/Melo                         GT2  Ferrari            + 16 laps
20.  Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander          GT2  Ferrari            + 16 laps
21.  Priaulx/Muller/Farfus              GT2  BMW                + 16 laps
22.  Pilet/Narac                        GT2  Porsche            + 16 laps
23.  Mutsch/Hirschi/Beche               GT1  Ford               + 16 laps
24.  Kirkaldy/Mullen                    GT2  Ferrari            + 17 laps
25.  Dumbreck/Coronel                   GT2  Spyker             + 18 laps
26.  Ragginger/Ried/Long                GT2  Porsche            + 18 laps
27.  Holzer/Westbrook                   GT2  Porsche            + 18 laps
28.  Allemann/Frey/Zimmer               GT1  Ford               + 18 laps
29.  Farnbacher/Simonsen                GT2  Ferrari            + 18 laps
30.  Perez Companc/Russo                GT2  Ferrari            + 19 laps
31.  Gardel/Goueslard/Rees              GT1  Saleen             + 19 laps
32.  Jousse/Gregoire/Hart               GT1  Corvette           + 19 laps
33.  Schroyen/Van Dam/Lacko             GT1  Saleen             + 19 laps
34.  Muller/Werner/Alzen                GT2  BMW                + 19 laps
35.  Van Splunteren/Hommerson/Machiels  GT2  Porsche            + 20 laps
36.  Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne          FLM  FLM ORECA          + 22 laps
37.  Daniels/Slingerland/Lanik          GT2  Porsche            + 23 laps
38.  Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer                GT2  Ferrari            + 34 laps
39.  Frey/Meichtry/Bruneau              P2   Radical-Judd       + 36 laps

Retirements:

     Bell/Turner                        GT2  Aston Martin    86 laps
     Enge/Nygaard/Mucke                 GT1  Aston Martin    82 laps
     Noda/de Pourtales/Kennard          P2   Lola-Judd       77 laps
     Leventis/Watts/Kane                P2   HPD             69 laps
     Toulemonde/Zollinger/Zampatti      FLM  FLM ORECA       67 laps
     Prost/Jani                         P1   Lola-Rebellion  65 laps
     Pillon/Verdonck/Capillaire         FLM  FLM ORECA       30 laps
     Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon        FLM  FLM ORECA       23 laps
     Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik             P2   Ginetta-Zytek   15 laps
     Panis/Lapierre/Duval               P1   Peugeot         4 laps