Peugeot claims 1-2 in opening practice for Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta

Audi had set the pace for much of the session, which had to be extended by 30 minutes after lengthy repairs to the wall and fencing were needed following a clash between the No.11 JDX Porsche and the No.24 Oak Pescarolo-Judd - which reported a brake failure - at Turn 5.

When the session finally resumed Tom Kristensen kept Audi ahead until Peugeot made their move with 20 minutes remaining.

Simon Pagenaud was the first driver to dip into the 1m09s as he pulled almost 2s clear of the field, only to find himself demoted to second eight minutes later as Stephane Sarrazin shaved just over a tenth off to go quickest in the No.8 908.

Audi closed in, as Marcel Fassler took over the No.1 R18 and Dindo Capello the No.2. Neither driver was able to come within 0.9s of Sarrazin's benchmark however, handing Peugeot the early advantage.

The leading American Le Mans Series entry was the No.16 Dyson Lola-Mazda of Dyson, Smith and Cochran, which finished sixth fastest, 2.5s off the outright pace.

In LMP2 Marino Franchitti put the No.055 HPD top in the closing stages of the session, edging out the No.26 Signatech ORECA Nissan which had set the pace under the guidance of Lucas Ordonez.

Rudy Junco topped LMPC in the No.06 CORE Autosport ORECA.

Toni Vilander topped a typically tight GT class in the No.062 AF Corse Ferrari, just 53 thousandths clear of Dirk Muller in the lead No.56 BMW M3. The top five drivers were separated by less than four tenths of a second.

Pos Cl    Drivers                        Team/Car               Time
    
 1. LMP1  Montagny/Sarrazin/Wurz         Peugeot                1m09.603s
 2. LMP1  Davidson/Bourdais/Pagenaud     Peugeot                1m09.727s
 3. LMP1  Bernhard/Dumas/Fassler         Audi                   1m10.562s
 4. LMP1  Capello/Kristensen/McNish      Audi                   1m10.644s
 5. LMP1  Lapierre/Minassian/Gene        ORECA Peugeot          1m11.284s
 6. LMP1  Dyson/Smith/Cochran            Dyson Lola             1m12.118s
 7. LMP1  Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues           Oak Pescarolo-Judd     1m12.167s
 8. LMP1  Al Masaood/Kane/Leitzinger     Dyson Lola-Mazda       1m12.792s
 9. LMP1  Luhr/Graf/Pickett              Muscle Milk Lola       1m12.952s
10. LMP1  Prost/Jani/Belicchi            Rebellion Lola         1m13.096s
11. LMP1  Fernandez/Primat/Mucke         AMR Lola-Aston         1m13.342s
12. LMP2  Tucker/Diaz/Franchitti         Level 5 HPD            1m14.278s
13. LMP2  Mailleux/Ordonez/Vernay        Signatech Nissan       1m15.225s
14. LMP1  Yvon/Premat/Pla                Oak Pescarolo-Judd     1m15.574s
15. LMP1  Burgess/McMurry/Willman        Autocon Lola-AER       1m16.198s
16. LMPC  Jeannette/Gonzalez/Junco       CORE Autosport FLM     1m17.429s
17. LMP2  Brown/Johansson/Patterson      Oak Pescarolo-Judd     1m17.619s
18. LMPC  Mitchell/Grogor/Kronfli        Genoa FLM              1m17.635s
19. LMP2  Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa         Level 5 HPD            1m17.700s
20. LMPC  Lux/Julian/Zugel/Grogor        Genoa FLM              1m17.731s
21. LMP2  Barlesi/da Rocha/Lafargue      Oak Pescarolo-Judd     1m17.904s
22. LMPC  Bennett/Montecalvo/Dalziel     CORE Autosport FLM     1m18.361s
23. LMPC  Dobson/Richard/Lewis           PR1 Mathiasen FLM      1m19.964s
24. LMPC  Ducote/Ducote/Marcelli/Drissi  Intersport FLM         1m19.995s
25. GT    Melo/Vilander/Matos            Risi Ferrari           1m20.205s
26. GT    Priaulx/Hand/Muller            BMW M3                 1m20.258s
27. LMPC  Nicolosi/Boon/Lueders          Performance Tech FLM   1m20.309s
28. GT    Fisichella/Bruni/Kaffer        AF Corse Ferrari       1m20.493s
29. GT    Bergmeister/Long/Pilet         Flying Lizard Porsche  1m20.556s
30. GT    Beretta/Milner/Garcia          Corvette               1m20.595s
31. GT    Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher  Extreme Speed Ferrari  1m20.638s
32. GT    Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook      Corvette               1m20.833s
33. GT    Farfus/Werner/Auberlen         BMW M3                 1m20.864s
34. GT    Ortelli/Makowiecki/Beltoise    Luxury Ferrari         1m20.954s
35. GT    Brown/Cosmo/Bell               Extreme Speed Ferrari  1m21.253s
36. GT    Law/Neiman/Holzer              Flying Lizard Porsche  1m21.578s
37. GT    Sellers/Henzler/Ragginer       Falken Porsche         1m21.807s
38. GTE-A Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel        Larbre Corvette        1m22.167s
39. GT    Firman/Jakubowski/Halliday     Luxury Ferrari         1m22.273s
40. GT    Roberston/Murry/Snow           Doran Ford GT-Elan     1m22.376s
41. GT    Miller/Maassen/Collard         Miller Porsche         1m22.708s
42. GTE-A Lietz/Ried/Bulitt              Proton Porsche         1m22.770s
43. GTE-A Kauffman/Aguas/Bell            AF Corse Ferrari       1m22.862s
44. GTE-A Ehret/Mullen/Wills             CRS Ferrari            1m23.484s
45. GTE-A Krohn/Jonsson/Rugulo           Krohn Ferrari          1m23.930s
46. GT    Junqueira/Da Matta/James       RSR Jaguar             1m24.699s
47. GTC   Pappas/Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen Black Swan Porsche     1m25.143s
48. GTC   Sweedler/Wong/Keen             Alex Job Porsche       1m25.218s
49. GTC   Ende/Pumpelly/Ludwig           TRG Porsche            1m25.454s
50. GTC   von Moltke/Keating/Norman      TRG Porsche            1m25.762s
51. GTE-A Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright       Gulf Aston Martin      1m25.963s
52. GTC   Langhorne/Carter/Plumb         JDX Porsche            1m27.995s
53. GT    Jones/Moran/Lewis              RSR Jaguar             1m29.406s
54. GT    Rossiter/Mowlem/Hansson        Jetalliance Lotus      1m32.288s