ALMS

Peugeot displaying its new paint scheme.

Peugeot with new paint scheme remains quick at Sebring.

SEBRING, Fl — The diesel powered Peugeot 908 HDI FAP continues to set the quick time around the race course with both of the French cars turning the top times in the morning test session here at Sebring Raceway for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida. Sebastian Bourdais on the No. 08 car topped the list this morning with a 1:45.840 time around the vaunted 3.7 mile track. His partner in crime, Anthony Davidson, in the No. 8 Peugeot was just under two tenths of a second slower.

Emmanuele Pirro, the former Audi works driver, and a two-time Sebring winner (00 and 07), pushed the Drayson Racing Lola B09 60 Judd-powered car to within a six tenths of a second of the leader, an improvement from Wednesday when the privateer entry was almost two seconds behind the lead.

In the LMP2 class, the defending champion is definitely the class of the field, as Simon Pagenaud (#1-P2 HPD ARX-01c),  turned a best lap of the morning session with a  1:47.308, more than second faster than Porsche

SEBRING, Fl — There are a number of scripts that could play out over the Sebring 2010 weekend: Will Peugeot continue its win skein that started at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans; will Aston-Martin show a petro-powered car with the help from a rules teak reached parity with the Diesels; will a privateer such as Drayson Racing surprise the field; or will it be the super competitive GTR2 class that will steal the thunder from the powerful LMP1s? The story is yet to be written this coming Saturday as the American Le Mans Series kicks off the season with the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida — but there is little reason to think that the competition will be anything short of stupendous. Already there has been a goodly amount of excitement with Jon Field wadding up his AER-powered Lola B06/10 LMP1 car when it went airborne between the nine and 10 turns. Field was ok and you can see photos from the shunt here. In early testing the Peugeots have been the quickest around the 17 turn 3.7 mile track but the Aston Marting factory team is well within stricking range of the French Lion, less than half a second off the top time, and the Drayson Team was less than a second off the top time. In GT2 the Risi Competizione’s Ferrari F430 GT had the top time in what will be one of the most competitive class in the history of the series. A second Ferrari F430 GT had the second fastest time and the Corvette C6 R had the third best time. More will be known Wednesday when the the first official practice session kicks off.