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ORECA takes surprise Sebring win

The ORECA Peugeot squad beat the factory cars to claim victory in the Sebring 12 Hours on Saturday

ORECA's first-generation 908 HDi driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Loic Duval and Olivier Panis came out on top in a three-way battle through the final hours of the opening round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

Duval crossed the line 31 seconds ahead of Highcroft's HPD ARX-01e and a further 12s ahead of the #8 factory Peugeot.

"We didn't expect to be that quick and that lucky today," said Duval. "At the end of the day it is a great achievement for ORECA."

The new 908 shared by Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy looked well placed for victory until the start of the 10th hour. A lap was lost when the car needed a new nose section and more seconds disappeared when Lamy, who had just taken over the car, spun on his out-lap.

Highcroft driver Pagenaud fought off a late charge from Montagny in the Peugeot to claim a surprise second place for the petrol-powered HPD. The car, co-driven by David Brabham and Marino Franchitti, did not run for the first time until one week before the race yet remained in the frame throughout the 12 hours.

The two Audi R15+ TDIs, which both needed repairs after on-track incidents, ended up fourth and fifth. The fourth-placed car driven by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello was the fastest car on the track for much of the final third of the race on the way to making up two of the seven laps lost to repairs earlier on.

The second factory Peugeot, in which Marc Gene had lost time after colliding with Capello, ended up a distant eighth behind the Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda and the Anglo-Swiss Rebellion team's Toyota-engined Lola coupe.

LMP2 honours went to the Level 5 Lola-Honda driven by Luis Diaz, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Scott Tucker. It took over the lead when the Signatech ORECA-Nissan encountered gear selection problems for the second time in the race.

BMW claimed a one-two in the GTE class with the M3 driven by Andy Priaulx, Dirk Muller and Joey Hand taking the victory. They triumphed by 37s over the sister car driven by Augusto Farfus, Dirk Werner and Bill Auberlen, which had to fight back from a delay caused by a puncture with just over a couple of hours to go, finishing 11s ahead of the best of the Chevrolet Corvettes.

Provisional results: 12 hours/332 laps:

Pos  Cl      Drivers                        Team/Car                     Time/Gap
 1.  LMP1    Lapierre/Duval/Panis           ORECA Peugeot           12h00m28.423s
 2.  LMP1    Brabham/Franchitti/Pagenaud    Highcroft HPD               + 31.868s
 3.  LMP1    Montagny/Sarrazin/Lamy         Peugeot                     + 44.502s
 4.  LMP1    Capello/Kristensen/McNish      Audi                         + 5 laps
 5.  LMP1    Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller    Audi                         + 6 laps
 6.  LMP1    Dyson/Smith/Cochran            Dyson Lola-Mazda             + 8 laps
 7.  LMP1    Prost/Jani/Bleekemolen         Rebellion Lola-Toyota       + 12 laps
 8.  LMP1    Wurz/Gene/Davidson             Peugeot                     + 17 laps
 9.  LMPC    Petersen/Cameron/Guasch        Genoa ORECA                 + 20 laps
10.  GT      Priaulx/Muller/Hand            BMW                         + 20 laps
11.  LMPC    Bennett/Montecalvo/Dalziel     Core ORECA                  + 20 laps
12.  GT      Farfus/Auberlen/Werner         BMW                         + 20 laps
13.  GT      Beretta/Milner/Garcia          Corvette                    + 20 laps
14.  GT      Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook      Corvette                    + 21 laps
15.  GT      Fisichella/Bruni/Kaffer        AF Corse Ferrari            + 21 laps
16.  GT      Bergmeister/Long/Lieb          Flying Lizard Porsche       + 22 laps
17.  GT      Law/Neiman/Holzer              Flying Lizard Porsche       + 26 laps
18.  LMPC    Jeannette/Gonzalez/Junco       Core ORECA                  + 27 laps
19.  GTE Am  Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo           Krohn Ferrari               + 30 laps
20.  LMP2    Tucker/Hunter-Reay/Diaz        Level 5 Lola-Honda          + 32 laps
21.  GTC     Pappas/Faulkner/Bleekemolen    Black Swan Porsche          + 33 laps
22.  GTC     Enda/Pumpelly/Li               TRG Porsche                 + 33 laps
23.  GTC     Cisneros/Kauffmann/Edwards     NGT Porsche                 + 36 laps
24.  GTC     Ham/Blackett/Cumming           JDX Porsche                 + 37 laps
25.  GTC     Von Moltke/Ludwig/Norman       TRG Porsche                 + 37 laps
26.  GT      Robertson/Robertson/Said       Robertson Doran Ford        + 38 laps
27.  LMPC    Lux/Julian/Zugel               Genoa ORECA                 + 38 laps
28.  GT      Ortelli/Mackowiecki/Deletraz   Luxury Ferrari              + 40 laps
29.  GTC     LeSaffre/Davis/Faieta          Kelly Moss Porsche          + 41 laps
30.  LMP2    Mailleux/Ordonez/Ayari         Signatech ORECA-Nissan      + 42 laps
31.  LMP2    Barlesi/da Rocha/Lafargue      OAK Pescarolo-Judd          + 45 laps
32.  GTC     Potter/Stanton/Marsh           Magnus Porsche              + 50 laps
33.  LMP2    Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa         Level 5 Lola-Honda          + 52 laps
34.  GTC     Sweedler/Keen/Wong             Alex Job Porsche            + 53 laps
35.  GT      Brown/Cosmo/Bell               Extreme Speed Ferrari      + 64 laps*
36.  GT      Melo/Vilander/Salo             Risi Ferrari               + 66 laps*
37.  GT      Murry/Lazzaro/Braun            Robertson Doran Ford       + 71 laps*
38.  GT      Jones/Moran/Wilden             RSR Jaguar                  + 76 laps
39.  GTE Am  Lietz/Roda/Ried                Proton Porsche              + 80 laps

* Not running at chequered flag

Not classified:

     LMPC    Nicolosi/Boon/Lueders          Performance Tech ORECA   246 laps*
     GT      Miller/Rast/Maassen            Miller Porsche           231 laps
     GTE Am  Ehret/Lynn/Wills               CRS Ferrari              226 laps
     LMP1    Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues           OAK Pescarolo-Judd       222 laps
     GT      Henzler/Sellers/Ragginger      Falken Porsche           220 laps
     LMPC    Moro/Mowlem/Lombard            WRO ORECA                203 laps
     LMPC    Dobson/Lewis/Richard           PR1 Mathiasen ORECA      185 laps
     LMP1    Pickett/Graf/Luhr              Muscle Milk Lola-Aston   151 laps
     LMP1    Nicolet/Hein/Yvon              OAK Pescarolo-Judd       111 laps
     GTC     Curtis/Sofronas/Seyffarth      GMG Porsche              87 laps
     LMPC    Marcelli/Drissi/Mitchell       Intersport ORECA         86 laps
     GT      Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher  Extreme Speed Ferrari    49 laps
     GTE Am  Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel        Larbre Corvette          37 laps
     GT      Junqueira/da Matta/Servia      RSR Jaguar               35 laps*
     GT      James/Leuenberger              Panoz                    19 laps
     GT      Pastorelli/Schwager            West Lamborghini         10 laps
     GTE Am  Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright       Gulf Aston Martin        5 laps

* Running again at chequered flag

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