Peugeot finished first and second at Spa in the european Le Mans series.
SPA, Belgium — With a full field of factory teams here (four Peugeots and three Audis), it was the Peugeot of Pedro Lamy, Simon Pagenaud, and Sebastien Bourdais that flexed its muscles, as well as taking advantage of a little luck, to win the second event in the European Le Mans series. The Audi of Allan McNish, Dino Capello, and Tom Kristenson finished third after leading in the race.
The Spa, half the length of the Circuit de la Sarthe, with 15 turns, served as a last tune-up for both the teams (and the rest of the competitors there) and it is difficult to tell if the Peugeot and Audi teams were more interested in preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, or measuring each other for the race in June. It might depend on what step one was standing on the podium and certainly neither team wanted to give away anything for the 24 hour event in June.
The Audi R15-plus, after its innaugural win at the first Le Mans Series race of the season at Castellet, its first win since the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2009, certainly was looking to see if the new car could run with the Peugeot and Peugeot wanted to continue its dominance of the LMP1 class, where the factory has not lost since that very same 2009 Sebring race.
It is not accurate to say that the Peugeot was dominant in the event at Spa, but the Peugeot was able to put its car in the lead when it counted and there was little that the Audis seemingly could do to battle back into contention; Indeed, late in the race the number two finishing Peugeot caught and passed the Audi for second place, again rubbing salt in the wounds of Team Audi.
Still you have to wonder, in a spy-versus-spy sort of race what the real goals of each team actually was — no one wants to finish second — and someone has to win — but it is true that both teams are sorting out their respective cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In a month we will know the truth.
Pos Drivers Cl Car Time/Gap
1. Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud P1 Peugeot 6h00m39.012s
2. Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian P1 Peugeot + 1m08.308s
3. Capello/Kristensen/Mcnish P1 Audi + 1m26.215s
4. Gene/Wurz/Davidson P1 Peugeot + 1 laps
5. Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller P1 Audi + 2 laps
6. Amaral/Pla P2 Ginetta-Zytek + 9 laps
7. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 Lola HPD + 9 laps
8. Moreau/Hein P2 Pescarolo-Judd + 10 laps
9. Lahaye/Nicolet P2 Pescarolo-Judd + 11 laps
10. Geri/Piccini/Piccini P2 Lola-Judd + 11 laps
11. Belicchi/Boullion P1 Lola-Rebellion + 12 laps
12. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer P1 Audi + 13 laps
13. Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx P1 Lola-Aston + 14 laps
14. Zacchia/Kaufmann/Moro FLM FLM ORECA + 15 laps
15. Lieb/Lietz GT2 Porsche + 15 laps
16. Schell/da Rocha P2 Courage-ORECA + 16 laps
17. Leinders/Palttala/de DonckerGT1 Ford + 16 laps
18. Kraihamer/de Crem/Delhez FLM FLM ORECA + 16 laps
19. Bruni/Melo GT2 Ferrari + 16 laps
20. Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander GT2 Ferrari + 16 laps
21. Priaulx/Muller/Farfus GT2 BMW + 16 laps
22. Pilet/Narac GT2 Porsche + 16 laps
23. Mutsch/Hirschi/Beche GT1 Ford + 16 laps
24. Kirkaldy/Mullen GT2 Ferrari + 17 laps
25. Dumbreck/Coronel GT2 Spyker + 18 laps
26. Ragginger/Ried/Long GT2 Porsche + 18 laps
27. Holzer/Westbrook GT2 Porsche + 18 laps
28. Allemann/Frey/Zimmer GT1 Ford + 18 laps
29. Farnbacher/Simonsen GT2 Ferrari + 18 laps
30. Perez Companc/Russo GT2 Ferrari + 19 laps
31. Gardel/Goueslard/Rees GT1 Saleen + 19 laps
32. Jousse/Gregoire/Hart GT1 Corvette + 19 laps
33. Schroyen/Van Dam/Lacko GT1 Saleen + 19 laps
34. Muller/Werner/Alzen GT2 BMW + 19 laps
35. Van Splunteren/
Hommerson/Machiels GT2 Porsche + 20 laps
36. Kutemann/Basso/
Hartshorne FLM FLM ORECA + 22 laps
37. Daniels/Slingerland/Lanik GT2 Porsche + 23 laps
38. Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer GT2 Ferrari + 34 laps
39. Frey/Meichtry/Bruneau P2 Radical-Judd + 36 laps
Post a reply