Le Mans

Le Mans, France – In the end it was three long years of  hard work that finally paid off at 3:00PM on Sunday June 14th 2009 for the Total Peugeot 908 HDI FAP team.

The French lion finally roared to a win at the 24 hours of Le Mans with a wire-to-wire victory. The Peugeot 908 HDI FAP team of Alex Wurz, David Brabham, and Marc Gene led for most of the race, and had few problems. Second place was the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP of Stephane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny, and local Sabastien Bourdais .

Te win seemd to prove that Peugeot’s reliability issues are a thing of the past.

The third place Audi R15 TDI driven by Tom Kristensen, Dindo Cappelo, and Allan McNish suffered problems thoughout the race, including overheating of the turbos, and also requiring  a steering wheel, replacement,  and ECU change Sunday. The vaunted Audi team which had won eight of the last 10 years finished six laps off the Peugeot pace.

Wolfgang Ullrich, the Audi Director of Racing,  indicated that if it were up to him the Audi team would return to take up the Peugeot challenge — but the decision lies with the Audi Board and no decision either way has been made at this writing.

 In the end, the winning LMP1 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP drove 382 laps for approxamatly 3235 miles, roughly driving from Seattle, WA USA, to Miami, FL USA in the 24 hour period.

 

Final Results by Class:

Pos # Team Driver in Pit Laps

LMP1
1. 9 Peugeot Sport Total GENE Marc  382
2. 8 Team Peugeot Total BOURDAIS Sebastien  381
3. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest KRISTENSEN Tom  375
4. 007 AMR Eastern Europe ENGE Thomas  373
5. 11 Team Oreca Matmut AIM AYARI Soheil  370
6. 7 Team Peugeot Total MINASSIAN Nicolas  369
7. 14 Kolles LOTTERER Andre  369
8. 16 Pescarolo Sport TINSEAU Christophe  368
9. 15 Kolles ALBERS Christian  360
10. 12 Signature Plus RAGUES Pierre  344

LMP2
1. 31 Team Essex ELGAARD Casper  357
2. 33 Speedy Racing Sebah POMPIDOU Xavier  343
3. 5 Navi Team Goh ARA Seiji  339
4. 24 OAK Racing NICOLET Jacques  325
5. 32 Team Barazi Epsilon MOSELEY Stuart  306
6. 25 RML ERDOS Tommy  273
7. 39 KSM NODA Hideki  261
8. 35 OAK Racing LAHAYE Matthieu  208
9. 30 Racing Box PICCINI Andrea  203 
10. 41 G.A.C. Racing Team PETER Philipp  102

GT1
1. 63 Corvette Racing O CONNELL Johny  342
2. 73 Alphand Aventures JOUSSE Julien  336
3. 64 Corvette Racing FASSLER Marcel  311
4. 66 Jetalliance Racing Gmbh LICHTNER-HOYER Lukas  294
5. 72 Alphand Aventures GOUESLARD Patrice  99 
6. 68 JLOC YAMAGISHI Yutaka  1

GT2
1. 82 Risi Competizione MELO Jaime  329
2. 97 BMS Scuderia Italia BABINI Fabio  327
3. 83 Risi Competizione KROHN Tracy  323
4. 92 JMW Motorsport BELL Robert  320
5. 85 Snoras Spyker Squadron JANIS Jarek  319
6. 78 AF Corse RUSSO Matias  317
7. 84 Team Modena MANSELL Leo  314
8. 99 JMB Racing RODRIGUES Manuel  304
9. 81 Advanced Engineering DEMPSEY Patrick  301
10. 96 Virgo Motorsport McINERNEY Michael  280

Pictures from Sunday morning at the Dunlop Curves to Tertre Rouge.

Le Mans, France – As the sun rises on the 77th running at the Circuit de la Sarthe the distance race becomes a sprint. Can the lone Audi R15 TDI make up the 2 laps defficite that it needs. Have the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP’s found the reliablity that they have been missing the last two years? Will the race that always gets rain, be left dry?  The sunrise was mostly overcast, and currently it is very humid and muggy. The last few hours have been very action packed, with 2 full course safety cars, one for No. 17 Pescarolo Sport Peugeot 908 HDI FAP and another for the No. 009 Aston Martin that crashed badly in the Porsche curves. As morning broke, many of the other cars have been in and out of the pits for a sundry of problems ranging from Stop and Go Penalties to loosing wheels. Patrick Dempsey continues to add laps to his count, which results in money for his charity, Mecenat Chirurgie Cardiaque, although he was sidelined in the pits for some repairs to the rear engine cover.

With just under 4 hours left it is still far to close to call, but the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP team has been running their race from start to finish. It is up to the Audi Sport R15 team to push as hard as they can.

Current running order by Class:

Pos # Team Driver in Pit Laps

LMP1
1 9 Peugeot Sport Total WURZ Alexander  320
2 8 Team Peugeot Total SARRAZIN Stephane  319
3 1 Audi Sport Team Joest MCNISH Allan  317
4 007 AMR Eastern Europe ENGE Thomas  312
5 11 Team Oreca Matmut AIM PANIS Olivier  308
6 13 Speedy Racing Sebah PROST Nicolas  307
7 14 Kolles ZWOLSMAN Charles  307
8 7 Team Peugeot Total KLIEN Christian  307
9 16 Pescarolo Sport BARBOSA Joao  306
10 15 Kolles BAKKERUD Christian  298
LMP2
1 31 Team Essex COLLARD Emmanuel  299
2 5 Navi Team Goh KUNIMOTO Keisuke  296
3 33 Speedy Racing Sebah LEUENBERGER Benjamin  286
4 24 OAK Racing HEIN Richard  278
5 25 RML ERDOS Tommy  273
6 32 Team Barazi Epsilon BARAZI Juan  269
7 39 KSM MARSH Matthew  225
8 35 OAK Racing LAHAYE Matthieu  208
9 30 Racing Box PICCINI Andrea  203
10 41 G.A.C. Racing Team PETER Philipp  102

GT1
1 64 Corvette Racing BERETTA Olivier  287
2 63 Corvette Racing O CONNELL Johny  287
3 73 Alphand Aventures MAASSEN Xavier  281
4 66 Jetalliance Racing Gmbh MULLER Alex  242
5 72 Alphand Aventures GOUESLARD Patrice  99
6 68 JLOC YAMAGISHI Yutaka  1
GT2
1 82 Risi Competizione SALO Mika  274
2 97 BMS Scuderia Italia BABINI Fabio  272
3 92 JMW Motorsport BELL Robert  270
4 78 AF Corse RUSSO Matias  269
5 83 Risi Competizione KROHN Tracy  268
6 85 Snoras Spyker Squadron BLEEKEMOLEN Jeroen  266
7 76 Imsa Performance Matmut LONG Patrick  262
8 84 Team Modena MANSELL Leo  261
9 99 JMB Racing BOUCHUT Christophe  255
10 81 Advanced Engineering FOSTER Joe  249