Peugeot takes Petit Le Mans one-two
Peugeot claimed an historic one-two in the 13th running of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta
Ultimately it was the quickest car in the race, the #08 Peugeot 908 of Stephane Sarrazin/Franck Montagny/Pedro Lamy that took the win, although it was only in the final two hours that the result was not in doubt.
Up until then the Audi R15 of Allan McNish/Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen had a very real chance of winning, while the second 908 of Anthony Davidson/Marc Gene/Alex Wurz was waiting in the wings on the lead lap.
But when Capello was briefly blinded when his balaclava slipped over his eyes, causing him to concede the lead to Montagny and then to pit out of sequence and thus drop off the lead lap, the cards fell perfectly into Peugeot's hands.
A full-course yellow offered a chance of getting back on the lead lap, so when Andrea Robertson brought out the safety car by lightly shunting her Ford GT, Peugeot wisely split its strategy, pitting the #08 car, leaving the #07 car in the lead and keeping the Audi off the lead lap.
With the cars running reliably from there on in, it was game over. Sarrazin brought the lead 908 home a lap ahead of Davidson, who ended up with a similar advantage over Tom Kristensen.
The 2010 LMP2 champion Highcroft Racing celebrated in style with an easy class win and fourth place overall. David Brabham brought the car home, but it was a top-rate effort from Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti too.
GT2 provided the most exciting racing, with the lead changing hands multiple times.
The Risi Ferrari 430 of Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni was in touching distance of the win when the car ran dry with just a couple of corners to go, gifting victory to the Corvette of Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Emmanuel Collard and second to the Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari of Scott Sharp/Johannes van Overbeek/Dominik Farnbacher.
Pos Cl Drivers Car Time/Gap 1. P1 Lamy/Montagny/Sarrazin Peugeot 9h10m43.451s 2. P1 Gene/Wurz/Davidson Peugeot + 1m01.681s 3. P1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi + 2 laps 4. P2 Brabham/Pagenaud/Franchitti HPD + 11 laps 5. P1 Field/Field/Devlin Lola + 11 laps 6. P1 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi + 17 laps 7. P2 Graf/Maassen/Luhr Porsche + 22 laps 8. P1 Drayson/Cocker/Pirro Lola + 25 laps 9. P2 Nicolet/Da Rocha/Lafargue Pescarolo + 35 laps 10. GT2 Gavin/Magnussen/Collard Corvette + 39 laps 11. GT2 Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher Ferrari + 39 laps 12. GT2 Vilander/Bruni Ferrari + 40 laps 13. GT2 Auberlen/Milner/Werner BMW + 40 laps 14. GT2 Bergmeister/Long/Lieb Porsche + 40 laps 15. GT2 O'Connell/Beretta/Garcia Corvette + 40 laps 16. PC Tucker/Werner/Frisselle ORECA + 40 laps 17. GT2 Fisichella/Melo/Salo Ferrari + 41 laps 18. GTH Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller Porsche + 44 laps 19. GT2 Murry/Bell/Lazzaro Doran Ford + 45 laps 20. GT2 Law/Neiman/Holzer Porsche + 46 laps 21. GT2 Sellers/Ragginger Porsche + 47 laps 22. GTC Ende/Lally/Richard Porsche + 57 laps 23. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen Porsche + 57 laps 24. PC Marcelli/Ducote/Ducote ORECA + 58 laps 25. GTC Potter/Davis/Eversley Porsche + 62 laps 26. GTC Lewis/Vento/Aschenbach Porsche + 64 laps 27. GT2 Brown/Cosmo/Barbosa Ferrari + 65 laps 28. GTC Beggs/Baron/Villeneuve Porsche + 69 laps 29. GTC Rodriguez/Bieker Porsche + 70 laps 30. GT2 Robertson/Robertson/Stanton Doran Ford + 79 laps 31. GT2 Muller/Hand/Priaulx BMW + 79 laps 32. PC Gonzalez/Diaz/Lewis ORECA + 83 laps 33. GTC Sweedler/Kapudija/Lueders Porsche + 84 laps 34. PC Tucker/Bouchut/Wilkins ORECA + 84 laps 35. PC Montecalvo/Lux/Figge ORECA + 87 laps 36. PC Jeannette/Zugel/Julian ORECA + 107 laps Retirements: P2 Dyson/Smith/Meyrick Lola-Mazda 192 laps P1 Willman/Burgess/McMurry Lola 157 laps GT2 Gentilozzi/Dalziel/Goossens Jaguar 82 laps GT2 Leitzinger/Drissi/Wallace Jaguar 16 laps P2 Prendeville/Toivonen/Dempsey Radical 6 laps GT2 James/Leuenberger Panoz 0 laps GTC Miller/Hines/Ehret Porsche 0 laps GT2 Davis/Said/Bell Doran Ford 0 laps
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