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Peugeot claims Spa victory

Peugeot claimed a narrow victory in the Spa round of the Le Mans Series

Nicolas Minassian, Simon Pagenaud and Christian Klien led the whole race in the best of the 908 HDi turbodiesels, yet only had 27 seconds in hand at the chequered flag courtesy of a sequence of safety cars.

The lead Pescarolo-Judd driven by Jean-Christophe Boullion and Christophe Tinseau finished second, but never looked like a contender for victory.

The second 908 ended up 13th after Peugeot debutant David Brabham brushed a slower car. The incident proved to be a double whammy: five laps were lost to rear suspension repairs and another two to a four-minute stop-go penalty for avoidable contact.

Pagenaud, who also claimed pole on his first race for Peugeot, said: "It was the perfect weekend; I haven't had many weekends like this."

Tinseau claimed the runner-up spot from ORECA driver Nicolas Lapierre in the closing stages. The Pescarolo was closing on the second-placed car when Lapierre tangled with a slower car at Eau Rouge and spun.

This incident and a late stop under yellows dropped the AIM-engined ORECA, now in the hands of Olivier Panis, behind the lead Aston Martin Racing entry driven by Stefan Mucke, Jan Charous and Tomas Enge, which had come through from the back of the grid.

The Danish Essex Porsche team claimed victory in a very close LMP2 battle ahead of the Speedy Sebah Lola-Judd. Prototype debutant Kristian Poulsen held on to take the win by six tenths of a second from Benjamin Leuenberger.

The Luc Alphand Aventures Chevrolet team overturned its defeat at the hands of the Reiter Lamborghini squad at the LMS opener at Barcelona to take GT1 honours. GT2 victory went to the lead Felbermayr Proton Porsche.

The race was interrupted by two major accidents involving LMP1 prototypes. Bruce Jouanny crashed the second Pescarolo-Judd when a wheel broke at the bottom of Eau Rouge and Bruno Senna lost control of the second ORECA at Blanchimont late in the race.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                       Car                Time/gap
 1.  P1   Minassian/Pagenaud/Klien      Peugeot 908        5h45m35.429s
 2.  P1   Boullion/Tinseau              Pescarolo Judd        + 27.622s
 3.  P1   Charouz/Enge/Mucke            Lola Aston Martin     +   1 lap
 4.  P1   Panis/Lapierre                Oreca AIM             +   1 lap
 5.  P1   Primat/Ramos/Turner           Lola Aston Martin     +   1 lap
 6.  P1   Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman  Audi R10 TDI          +  2 laps
 7.  P1   Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini       Audi R10 TDI          +  4 laps
 8.  P2   Elgaard/Collard/Poulsen       Porsche RS Spyder     +  4 laps
 9.  P2   Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou     Lola Judd             +  4 laps
10.  P1   Belicchi/Fassler/Prost        Lola Aston Martin     +  4 laps
11.  P1   Ragues/Mailleux               Oreca Judd            +  5 laps
12.  P2   Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini     Lola Judd             +  6 laps
13.  P1   Gene/Wurz/Brabham             Peugeot 908           +  7 laps
14.  P2   Barazi/Rees                   Zytek                 +  9 laps
15.  GT1  Alphand/Goueslard/Clairay     Corvette C6.R         + 11 laps
16.  P2   Lahaye/Ajlani                 Pescarolo Mazda       + 11 laps
17.  GT1  Salaquarda/Kox/Janis          Lamborghini           + 12 laps
18.  P1   Kerr/Smith/Tomlinson          Ginetta Zytek         + 13 laps
19.  P1   Watts/Leventis/Hardman        Ginetta Zytek         + 14 laps
20.  GT2  Lieb/Lietz/Felbermayr         Porsche 997           + 14 laps
21.  GT2  Garcia/Mansell/Melo           Ferrari F430          + 14 laps
22.  P2   Bruneau/Greaves/Coleman       Radical AER           + 14 laps
23.  GT2  Bell/Bruni                    Ferrari F430          + 15 laps
24.  GT2  Ehret/Farnbacher              Ferrari F430          + 15 laps
25.  GT2  Coronel/Dumbreck              Spyker C8             + 15 laps
26.  GT2  Pilet/Narac                   Porsche 997R          + 16 laps
27.  P2   Schell/Thirion                Courage AER           + 16 laps
28.  GT2  Cocker/Drayson                Aston Martin          + 17 laps
29.  GT2  Mcinerney/Mcinerney/Vergers   Ferrari F430          + 18 laps
30.  GT2  Griffin/Bamford               Ferrari F430          + 19 laps
31.  GT2  Palttala/Daniels              Porsche 997R          + 19 laps
32.  P2   Noda/Sini/Marsh               Lola Mazda            + 28 laps
33.  GT1  Lichtner-Hoyer/Gruber/Muller  Aston Martin DBR9     + 30 laps
34.  GT2  Ried/Felbermayr/Martins       Porsche 997R          + 31 laps
35.  P2   Salini/Salini/Gommendy        WR Zytek              + 33 laps
36.  P2   Amaral/Pla                    Ginetta Zytek         + 42 laps

Retirements:

     GT2  Von Thurn/Bouchut             Lamborghini            99 laps
     P2   Comblot/Cortes/Montserrat     Lucchini Judd          88 laps
     P1   Lavaggi/Kaufmann              Lavaggi AER            49 laps
     P1   Ortelli/Senna                 Oreca AIM             129 laps
     GT2  Simonsen/Kaffer               Ferrari F430          110 laps
     P2   Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter          Zytek                  80 laps
     GT2  Tenchini/Basso/Plati          Ferrari F430           75 laps
     GT2  Hartshorne/Rodrigues/Kralev   Ferrari F430           57 laps
     P1   Jouanny/Barbosa               Pescarolo Judd         53 laps
     GT2  Rosa/Montermini/Petrobelli    Ferrari F430           53 laps
     P2   Erdos/Newton                  Lola Mazda             47 laps
     P2   Ibanez/Da Rocha/Cavailhes     Courage AER            41 laps
     P2   Randaccio/Solieri             Lucchini McLaren       35 laps
     P2   Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini           Lola Judd               7 laps

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