Peugeot dominates the Imola Six Hours
Sebastien Bourdais and Anthony Davidson claimed victory in the Imola Six Hours on a day when Peugeot had the upper hand over arch-rival Audi
The Peugeot 908 turbodiesels finished one-two and a lap clear of the pair of Audi R18 TDIs in the fourth round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at the former home of the San Marino Grand Prix. Bourdais led for the first two stints before a botched pitstop allowed Stephane Sarrazin to move ahead in the car he shared with Franck Montagny.
Davidson closed down a 10-second deficit to Sarrazin and emerged ahead after the next round of pitstops. With the Audis beginning to fade at this stage, Peugeot decided to freeze the order.
The winning Peugeot looked to have lost the race in the penultimate hour when Bourdais had contact with a slower car and suffered a puncture. Eight laps later, Montagny had a similar problem after going off line, switching the Bourdais car back to the head of the leaderboard.
Davidson said: "This was such a fantastic race to win. First and second [for Peugeot] is unbelievable; we didn't expect such domination."
The Audi R18 appeared to be in the mix early on, but a combination of braking issues caused by debris blocking the front cooling ducts and the Peugeot's superior straight-line speed, which allowed it to cut through the traffic much easier, meant the cars drifted out of contention in the second and third hours.
LMP2 honours went to the Le Mans-winning Greaves Motorsport Zytek driven by Tom Kimber-Smith, Olivier Lombard and Karim Ojjeh. The Nissan-engined contender was not the fastest car in class, but its major rivals all suffered technical glitches.
BMW looked on course for GTE honours until the car driven by Jorg Muller and Augusto Farfus Jr was hit with a one-minute stop-go penalty in the final hour. The AF Corse Ferrari team eventually finished one-two, Toni Vilander and Jaime Melo coming out on top over Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella, who suffered a repeat of the misfire that deprived them of victory at Le Mans last month.
Results - 220 laps:
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. P1 Bourdais/Davidson Peugeot 6h01m01.623s
2. P1 Montagny/Sarrazin Peugeot + 1m08.688s
3. P1 Bernhard/Fassler Audi + 1 laps
4. P1 Kristensen/McNish Audi + 1 laps
5. P1 Belicchi/Boullion Rebellion Lola-Toyota + 7 laps
6. P1 Jani/Prost Rebellion Lola-Toyota + 7 laps
7. P1 Collard/Tinseau/Jousse Pescarolo-Judd + 13 laps
8. P2 Ojjeh/Lombard/Kimber-Smith Greaves Zytek-Nissan + 15 laps
9. P2 Mailleux/Ordonez/Ayari Signatech ORECA-Nissan + 17 laps
10. P2 Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa Level 5 Lola-HPD + 19 laps
11. P2 Perez Companc/Russo/Kaffer Pecom Lola-Judd + 19 laps
12. P2 Premat/Nicolet Oak Pescarolo-Judd + 20 laps
13. GTE P Melo/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari + 22 laps
14. P2 Leventis/Watts/Kane Strakka HPD + 23 laps
15. GTE P Fisichella/Bruni AF Corse Ferrari + 23 laps
16. GTE P Farfus/Muller BMW + 23 laps
17. GTE P Lieb/Lietz Felbermayr Porsche + 24 laps
18. GTE P Pilet/Henzler IMSA Porsche + 24 laps
19. FLM Ducote/Marcelli/Marroc JMB FLM + 25 laps
20. FLM Schultis/Simon/Schell Pegasus FLM + 25 laps
21. P2 Beche/Thiriet/Firth TDS ORECA-Nissan + 26 laps
22. GTE A Armindo/Narac IMSA Porsche + 26 laps
23. FLM Moro/Zhang/Graves Hope FLM + 26 laps
24. GTE A Long/Roda Proton Porsche + 26 laps
25. P2 Rosier/Basso Extreme Limite Norma-Judd + 27 laps
26. GTE A Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel Larbre Corvette + 27 laps
27. FLM Julian/Zugel/Petersen Genoa FLM + 28 laps
28. GTE A Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret AF Corse Ferrari + 28 laps
29. GTE P Goossens/Holzer Prospeed Porsche + 29 laps
30. P2 Barlesi/Da Rocha/Lafargue Oak Pescarolo-Judd + 29 laps
31. GTE P Dolan/Hancock Jota Aston Martin + 29 laps
32. P2 Kraihamer/de Crem Boutsen ORECA-Nissan + 29 laps
33. P1 Moreau/Ragues Oak Pescarolo-Judd + 32 laps
34. GTE A Ehret/Lynn/Wills CRS Ferrari + 33 laps
35. P2 Erdos/Newton/Collins RML HPD + 34 laps
36. GTE A Hummel/Christodoulou/Quaife CRS Ferrari + 35 laps
37. GTE P Werner/Lamy BMW + 38 laps
38. GTE A Rugolo/Krohn/Jonsson Krohn Ferrari + 50 laps
Retirements:
GTE P Beltoise/Jakubowski/Firman Luxury Ferrari 189 laps
P1 Cortes/Geri/Piccini MIK Zytek 157 laps
GTE A Felbermayr Jr/Ried Felbermayr Porsche 147 laps
GTE P Bell/Walker JMW Ferrari 143 laps
P2 Gates/Garofall/Phillips RLR MG Lola-Judd 140 laps
GTE P Farnbacher/Simonsen Farnbacher Ferrari 101 laps
P2 Frey/Meichtry/Rostan Race Performance ORECA-Judd 69 laps
GTE P Lichtner-Hoyer/Rich/Slingerland Jetalliance Lotus Evora 26 laps
GTE P Hirschi/Rossiter/Mowlem Jetalliance Lotus Evora 8 laps
GTE P Ortelli/Makowiecki Luxury Ferrari 1 lap
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