Lamy surprised by his Peugeot's pace

Peugeot driver Pedro Lamy says even his team were surprised by the pace of the 908 HDi in the first qualifying session at Le Mans this evening

Stephane Sarrazin set a stunning lap of 3:18.513 in the No. 8 car - eight seconds faster than last year's pole position time, and Franck Montagny was less than two tenths slower in the No. 9 car.

Lamy, who shares the No. 8 car with Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz, predicted that Peugeot could go even quicker in this evening's second session.

"It's very quick so far," he told autosport.com. "Whether or not we will be able to go quicker depends on the track and the traffic.

"But the circuit was getting faster and faster during the session and it was best at the end, so we'll see at the beginning of the next session (on Thursday night) if we can be quicker."

The Peugeots finished first qualifying seven seconds clear of the first Audi, although the German marque claim they were not pushing for their ultimate times.