Minassian upbeat for Monza 1000km

The Frenchman outqualified the sister Peugeot 908 Hdi by half a second, and was more than one and a half seconds faster than the lead Audi R10.

"It's easy when you have a very good car," he said. "I worked well with Marc [Gene] and now that the car is reliable, we can explore the full potential of the 908. The car is really fast and the engine, chassis, and brakes are fantastic."

Peugeot Sport team boss Serge Saulnier was also pleased that his cars have maintained a significant advantage over Audi from the season opener at Barcelona earlier this month.

"When we got to Monza we could have expected the gap to the Audis to be smaller than at Barcelona, but they remain quite substantial. I hope this will give us a little room for manoeuvre during the pit stops or if there are safety car periods."