Peugeot takes Petit Le Mans one-two
Peugeot claimed an historic one-two in the 13th running of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta
Ultimately it was the quickest car in the race, the #08 Peugeot 908 of Stephane Sarrazin/Franck Montagny/Pedro Lamy that took the win, although it was only in the final two hours that the result was not in doubt.
Up until then the Audi R15 of Allan McNish/Dindo Capello/Tom Kristensen had a very real chance of winning, while the second 908 of Anthony Davidson/Marc Gene/Alex Wurz was waiting in the wings on the lead lap.
But when Capello was briefly blinded when his balaclava slipped over his eyes, causing him to concede the lead to Montagny and then to pit out of sequence and thus drop off the lead lap, the cards fell perfectly into Peugeot's hands.
A full-course yellow offered a chance of getting back on the lead lap, so when Andrea Robertson brought out the safety car by lightly shunting her Ford GT, Peugeot wisely split its strategy, pitting the #08 car, leaving the #07 car in the lead and keeping the Audi off the lead lap.
With the cars running reliably from there on in, it was game over. Sarrazin brought the lead 908 home a lap ahead of Davidson, who ended up with a similar advantage over Tom Kristensen.
The 2010 LMP2 champion Highcroft Racing celebrated in style with an easy class win and fourth place overall. David Brabham brought the car home, but it was a top-rate effort from Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti too.
GT2 provided the most exciting racing, with the lead changing hands multiple times.
The Risi Ferrari 430 of Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni was in touching distance of the win when the car ran dry with just a couple of corners to go, gifting victory to the Corvette of Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Emmanuel Collard and second to the Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari of Scott Sharp/Johannes van Overbeek/Dominik Farnbacher.
Pos Cl Drivers Car Time/Gap
1. P1 Lamy/Montagny/Sarrazin Peugeot 9h10m43.451s
2. P1 Gene/Wurz/Davidson Peugeot + 1m01.681s
3. P1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi + 2 laps
4. P2 Brabham/Pagenaud/Franchitti HPD + 11 laps
5. P1 Field/Field/Devlin Lola + 11 laps
6. P1 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi + 17 laps
7. P2 Graf/Maassen/Luhr Porsche + 22 laps
8. P1 Drayson/Cocker/Pirro Lola + 25 laps
9. P2 Nicolet/Da Rocha/Lafargue Pescarolo + 35 laps
10. GT2 Gavin/Magnussen/Collard Corvette + 39 laps
11. GT2 Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher Ferrari + 39 laps
12. GT2 Vilander/Bruni Ferrari + 40 laps
13. GT2 Auberlen/Milner/Werner BMW + 40 laps
14. GT2 Bergmeister/Long/Lieb Porsche + 40 laps
15. GT2 O'Connell/Beretta/Garcia Corvette + 40 laps
16. PC Tucker/Werner/Frisselle ORECA + 40 laps
17. GT2 Fisichella/Melo/Salo Ferrari + 41 laps
18. GTH Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller Porsche + 44 laps
19. GT2 Murry/Bell/Lazzaro Doran Ford + 45 laps
20. GT2 Law/Neiman/Holzer Porsche + 46 laps
21. GT2 Sellers/Ragginger Porsche + 47 laps
22. GTC Ende/Lally/Richard Porsche + 57 laps
23. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen Porsche + 57 laps
24. PC Marcelli/Ducote/Ducote ORECA + 58 laps
25. GTC Potter/Davis/Eversley Porsche + 62 laps
26. GTC Lewis/Vento/Aschenbach Porsche + 64 laps
27. GT2 Brown/Cosmo/Barbosa Ferrari + 65 laps
28. GTC Beggs/Baron/Villeneuve Porsche + 69 laps
29. GTC Rodriguez/Bieker Porsche + 70 laps
30. GT2 Robertson/Robertson/Stanton Doran Ford + 79 laps
31. GT2 Muller/Hand/Priaulx BMW + 79 laps
32. PC Gonzalez/Diaz/Lewis ORECA + 83 laps
33. GTC Sweedler/Kapudija/Lueders Porsche + 84 laps
34. PC Tucker/Bouchut/Wilkins ORECA + 84 laps
35. PC Montecalvo/Lux/Figge ORECA + 87 laps
36. PC Jeannette/Zugel/Julian ORECA + 107 laps
Retirements:
P2 Dyson/Smith/Meyrick Lola-Mazda 192 laps
P1 Willman/Burgess/McMurry Lola 157 laps
GT2 Gentilozzi/Dalziel/Goossens Jaguar 82 laps
GT2 Leitzinger/Drissi/Wallace Jaguar 16 laps
P2 Prendeville/Toivonen/Dempsey Radical 6 laps
GT2 James/Leuenberger Panoz 0 laps
GTC Miller/Hines/Ehret Porsche 0 laps
GT2 Davis/Said/Bell Doran Ford 0 laps
Share Or Save This Story
Autosport 75: Horner’s first F1 season with Red Bull
Every Dutch Formula 1 driver ranked
FIA president Jean Todt: Mick Schumacher should be left in peace
The F1 drivers to take on the Nurburgring 24 Hours before Verstappen
Tin-top thrills among the Mondello Park Historic Festival highlights
How Sutton shone while Ingram’s luck deserted him at Brands Hatch
Behind the debate over F1's future engines is a battle for control
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments