Peugeot realistic for first race

The car has completed six test sessions since January, but the team believe that priority for the early part of the Le Mans Series is to continue learning about the car ahead of their battle with Audi at Le Mans in June

The two 908s will be expected to contend for victory based on the pace of the car at the official LMS test at Paul Ricard last month, but the team are preparing themselves to deal with problems during the six-hour race.

Peugeot Sport director Michel Barge said: "Our car demonstrated that it has the performance at Paul Ricard because we posted the fastest time, but our schedule is very tight.

"Had those tests been a race, we would have found ourselves sidelined by a certain number of technical problems."

The team are hoping to challenge for pole position in the LMS season opener, but they have not made any predictions regarding their result on raceday.

"Our objective at Monza will be to do the best job possible to qualify on pole, and to finish the race," said Barge.

"We learn something about the car every time it takes to the track, and whichever way the race goes, this event will provide us with plenty of information because we still have so much to learn."