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Davidson plays down Peugeot's pace

Anthony Davidson insisted that Peugeot does not have a clear advantage going into qualifying at Le Mans tonight, despite the 908s sweeping the top four spots in practice earlier today

The fastest Audi was nearly four seconds off the pace in fifth, but Davidson is not counting Peugeot's arch-rival out.

"I wouldn't read too much into that [Peugeot's advantage]," he told AUTOSPORT. "I'm not as confident as the lap times would suggest so far.

"I'm expecting it to be much, much closer. After following them [Audi] on track it's clear we're quite equally matched."

The former grand prix driver ended up fourth in the #1 car he shares with Marc Gene and Alex Wurz, while Franck Montagny ended up as the pacesetter in the #2 908.

"I got up to speed straight away - went P1 straight away, which was nice," said Davidson. "Then we did some more work on the set-up - ride height was the main thing we worked on.

"I had quite a lot of traffic on my run but I was happy with the pace I was able to do. On my in-lap, the prediction for it was bang on Franck's lap.

"I found a nice balance and then handed over to Marc. He struggled to get to grips with the balance of the car initially, but then as the track rubbered in and he did more laps, he got more comfortable and the lap times started to come.

"Then there was a mechanical problem with the front end, which we've solved now but it put us back on set-up. It was a bit of a head-scratcher for most of the session.

"It hindered Alex more than it hindered Marc, but we've sorted it out for quali, which Alex is going to do."

He expects the pace in first qualifying to be extremely rapid.

"It's got to be today, when the air's cool," Davidson said. "You get more downforce and power like that. I expect the lap times are going to be quick tonight. Really quick, in fact - the track's in really good condition."

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