Autoblog

The automotive media are all abuzz with Peugeot's announcement of its drivers' line-up for this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The French automaker's team took pole and second place at the event last year, and an overall victory in the European series where the equally matched Audi R10 TDI did not compete. PSA, however, is not about to rest until its team thoroughly trounces its rivals, especially Audi, and as we reported previously, towards that effort Peugeot has been recruiting top talent from Formula One to pilot the 908 HDi to victory lane.

The announced roster includes Ferrari test driver Marc Gene, BMW Sauber tester Christian Klien, former Lotus pilot Pedro Lamy, former Super Aguri driver Franck Montagny, former Minardi driver Stephane Sarrazin, Honda F1 test driver and former Le Mans winner Alex Wurz, F1 veteran Ricardo Zonta, and former world champion Jacques Villeneuve. Nicolas Minassian joins the team as the only member never to have earned his F1 Superlicense. Notable is the absence of Sebastien Bourdais, the four-time Champ Car champion who drove the second-place 908 HDi last year alongside Sarrazin and Lamy, but he has his hands full in F1 this year. With such an experienced roster of drivers, Peugeot could stand a more than decent chance of unseating Audi from its domination of the event, broken since 2000 only by the Bentley Speed 8, which Audi themselves supported.

[Source: Autosport, Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP/Getty]