Autoblog

As we mentioned yesterday, Audi and Peugeot have been locked in a battle of lap times all week at Sebring Raceway in preparation for the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race on Saturday. In yesterday's practice sessions, Audi turned in a very fast lap of 1:43.195s that would eventually earn it the pole position. Peugeot answered Audi's effort later in the day, however, during the actual qualifying session for the race that would determine the starting grid. The 908 HDi driven by Stephane Sarrazin crushed Audi's top lap in practice with a time of 1:43:117s, which effectively secured Peugeot the pole position.

Unfortunately for Peugeot, fate stepped in and bitch slapped the French automaker's racing team. Welcome to America, guys. Just nine minutes after the qualifying session began and after the 908 HDi had recorded its fast lap, the No. 8 Mazda was involved in an accident bad enough to cancel the session entirely. ALMS rules state that a minimum of ten minutes must be run in a qualifying session for it to count. Therefore, Peugeot's fastest lap time was thrown out. Since the nine-minute long qualifying session couldn't be counted, organizers used lap times from earlier in the day during practice sessions in which Audi set the fastest lap time mentioned above.

Thus, your starting grid for the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring will be Audi and Peugeot on the front row, with another Audi in the first spot of the second row. Both teams obviously view what transpired yesterday very differently. Read the press releases from both Audi and Peugeot after the jump to see how they really feel about each other.

[Source: ALMS]

Click above for high-res gallery from this week's 12 Hours of Sebring practice

An epic battle is shaping up for this weekend's running of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Audi versus Peugeot. The R10 TDI versus the 908 HDi. Diesel versus diesel. This will be the first and perhaps only time that these two teams race on American soil, though the contest will be repeated many times in the European Le Mans Series this season. Since Monday, Audi and Peugeot have been battling for the best lap times during practice sessions in preparation for this weekend's endurance race at Sebring Raceway, and Peugeot got the upper hand on both Monday and Tuesday. Audi, which is fielding two cars to Peugeot's one, finally fought back today posting the fastest lap time of the week thanks to driver Dindo Capello, who ran a 1:45.491, just 0.017 seconds faster than Stephane Sarrazin in the Peugeot 908.

But Audi and Peugeot in the LMP1 class should be wary of focusing too much on each other, as there are other entrants that could spoil their fun. Marco Andretti, for instance has been blisteringly fast in his Andretti Green Racing Acura ARX-01b, setting the second fastest lap time overall on Tuesday. As we learned from watching the LMP2 class beat up on Audi last year, Le Mans racing is anyone's game. The nature of endurance racing, however, favors fuel economy, and therefore the diesel-powered R10 TDI and 908 HDi should have the advantage. There will be plenty of great racing in the GT1 and GT2 classes as well, with Aston Martin squaring off against the Corvette Racing Team and Porsche taking on Ferrari, respectively. Stay tuned for race results probably late Saturday or early Sunday, and check out some spectacular images from this week's testing in the gallery below.


[Source: ALMS]