It was a record setting day yesterday at Road Atlanta, with all four classes setting qualifying records including a blistering 1:06.242 by Stephane Sarrazin in his Peugeot 908 HDi to take the top overall spot. Peugeot has continually proved that it has a fast car, taking the last two pole positions at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it was Audi on top at the end of that race. Allan McNish will be putting plenty of pressure on the Peugeot team, who qualified just .085 seconds behind the Peugeot in his Audi R10 TDI. In P2, Penske racing not only captured pole with a record qualifying time of 1:07.061, but also grabbed the top three spots. It was all Corvette Racing in GT1, but it will be a close race between the two Corvette who were separated by only .047 seconds. Finally, Risi Competizione qualified first in GT2 for the second straight year.
Coverage of the event starts today at 11:00 AM EST on SPEED TV today, with the green flag waving at 11:15. A NASCAR race splits up the coverage from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. EST, but you can still watch the race on AmericanLeMans.com (as well as look up live timing and scoring) or listen in on XM channel 166. Full details of the qualifying and driver quotes can be found in the press release after the jump.
As we reported yesterday, Peugeot was clearly the fastest in qualifying for this weekend's running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The record-setting runs of all three 908 HDi diesel-powered LMP1 cars places Peugeot's entire field of entries 1-2-3 on the starting grid. That's impressive considering two of Peugeot's car crashed during the past two weeks of practice. Audi is hoping that its team's experience, quicker pit stops and more fuel efficient R10 LMP1 cars will eventually carry it past the Peugeots, despite starting fourth, fifth and seventh on the 55-car grid. And thanks to the speed of Lola Aston Martin driver Stefan Mücke whose petrol-powered car earned the sixth spot on the starting grid, not all the front runners will be diesel-powered.
As for classes other than LMP1, the next fastest LMP2 class was dominated by the Porsche Spyders not surprisingly, while LMGT1 is being led by the #63 Corvette Racing C6.R. The Corvettes will be chased this year by the particularly fast #50 Larbre Competition Saleen S7 and some slower but determined Aston Martin DBR9s from Aston Martin Racing. Finally, LMGT2 will be another great battle between Porsches and Ferraris, with the #76 Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on pole for the class. Remember the amazing GT2 class finish of last year's race between Flying Lizard's Jorg Bergmeister in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo in a Ferrari 430GT? If not, watch it again here as a reminder of why Le Mans is absolutely amazing. Also check out this great post at UltimateCarPage that has a detailed breakdown of all 55 cars with an image of each one and a list of their drivers.
The 76th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place this weekend, and just like last year, Audi and Peugeot will be duking it out in front with their diesel-powered LMP1 cars. The Audi R10 is a proven race machine, both durable and fast, but the Peugeot 908 has often times proved faster. Late yesterday at the first qualifying session for the endurance race, the 908 proved to be the fastest by far when it shattered the lap record at Le Mans by 7.8 seconds! The car was being driven by French driver Stephane Sarrazin, who man-handled the 908 around the track in 3 minutes and 18.513 seconds. A truly amazing feat, though what's more incredible is that the next five fastest times also beat the previous lap record, two of which were Audi R10s. Unfortunately, the second and third fastest times behind the fastest Peugeot 908 were two more Peugeot 908s. The Peugeot cars are clearly faster than the Audis so far in qualifying, but that was the case last year and Audi pulled out a win just like it has the past four years in a row. Unlike the Le Mans Series races where Peugeot has won the first three races so far this year, Le Mans is about endurance and Audi has proven seven out of the last eight years that it can last longer than the rest.
Le Mans has seen its fair share of spectacular crashes, perhaps most notably the Mercedes CLR-GTR that caught air and did several flips before landing outside the guard rail back in 1999. While not as outrageous as the Mercedes, Peugeot caught some air as well this past weekend at the 24 Hours of Le Mans test when Marc Gene lost control of his 908 Hdi and hit the wall at over 120 mph. Luckily, Gene was able to walk away from the crash and will be able to drive in the race in less than two weeks. Footage from the crash can be seen after the jump.
Stephane Sarrazin pilots the Peugeot 908 HDi to a record 1:42.801 lap time at Sebring. (Photo courtesy of ALMS.)
Race on Sunday, sell on Monday. That's the time-honored, though oft-refuted mantra used by motorsport's patrons to justify the enormous expense of top-class motor racing. It might be a bit of a stretch for Peugeot, however, who announced today their US debut at this year's 12 Hours of Sebring, the first race in the 2008 American Le Mans Series, now entering its tenth season. Peugeot doesn't even import to the United States, but this just goes to show how single-minded the French team is in its pursuit of victory over its diesel rivals at Audi.
According to ALMS chief Scott Atherton, "It is no secret that Peugeot's ultimate goal for 2008 is to once again claim victory at Le Mans, and there is no better proving ground than Sebring." Peugeot evidently agrees. The decision to compete at Sebring comes after last month's test session where Stephane Sarrazin set a record 1:42.801 lap time at the Florida track behind the wheel of the Peugeot 908 HDi, beating the previous lap record set by Audi's Marco Werner last year by a full two seconds. It warrants repeating in case you missed it: two full seconds. That ended up being motivation enough for Peugeot to ship the car on over again to compete in the actual race, where Sarrazin will share driving duties with Nic Minassian and Pedro Lamy. We'll see how Peugeot does against Audi and the rest of the field when the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring gets underway on Saturday, March 15.
Press release after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Kamal!
LeMans fans waiting patiently to watch the greatest diesel duel in the history of motorsports got a preview on Sunday during an official test session for the 24 Hours of LeMans. All 55 teams were on hand, but our attention is focused on the reigning Audi R10 and newcomer from Peugeot, the 908 HDi. Both cars are a tour de force of diesel technology, but the 908 HDi driven by Sebastien Bourdais proved itself a smidge faster during testing, posting the best recorded lap of the shortened 8.47 test course with a time of 3:26:707 seconds. The Audi R10 driven by Frank Biela posted the second quickest time of 3:28:277 seconds, a little over 1.5 ticks slower than the Peugeot. The other 908 HDi car finished fifth, while the other two Audi R10s finished third and sixth, respectively. The two Peugeot 908 HDi cars completed the day with no mechanical issues, though the Audi teams were dogged by a number of red flags. There's less than two weeks left before the 24 Hours of LeMans begins on June 16th, so we expect both teams to arrive prepared and ready to lay it all out on the track.
As you can see above, Peugeot has unveiled the official race livery for the fantastic-looking 908 Le Mans prototype that the automaker will campaign as a two-car team in the European Le Mans Series and the fabled 24 Hours of Le Mans. Those of you who've been following the car's development know that it's driven by Peugeot's HDi FAP V12 diesel engine, which should produce upwards of 700 horsepower and an monstrous 850 ft-lbs of torque. Le Mans will provide motorsports fanatics with the ultimate showdown, as the closed-roof French racer takes on Germany's world-beating Audi R10 TDI pair in what's sure to be match for the ages. It will be the first time the cars compete against each other, as the Audis remain stateside competing in the American Le Mans Series while the Peugeots campaign in Europe. This is gonna be a lot of fun to watch.
Three more shots of the Pug in its race threads can be found in the attached gallery, which also contains a slew of other images ranging from the HDi FAP V12 to the unpainted car undergoing testing.
It's that time of year already. As soon as the calendar flips, racing teams are eager to get a jump on the competition and start showing off their new whips. Testing sessions for many series are underway and images of the racers are starting to surface. One of our favorite forms of racing, Le Mans prototypes, is no exception. We elsewhere covered news of Mazda's new 4-cylinder Lola competitor for the ALMS and here we have the Audi R10 challenger from Peugeot. While we saw a prototype of this racer on a display stand in Paris last fall, here we have a small gallery of images from the track. For those who might not remember, the 908 HDi features Peugeot's new HDi V12 that was also shown in the Maybach Exelero-like 908 RC concept sedan.
The 5.5-liter twin-turbo diesel is all-aluminum and utilizes common-rail direct-injection. It's twelve cylinders are arranged in a 100-degree V, for a lower center of gravity. The engine should be good for more than 700hp in race trim. Like the championship-winning R10 TDI from Audi, this diesel should provide a lot of torque and improved fuel economy over a gas engine. The oil-burner channels its power through a six-speed electro-pneumatic gearbox and a self-locking electronic differential.
This Peugeot is also the first closed body-style Le Mans proto, which meets the new regulations. It also offers a visual link to the company's old 905, that won Le Mans in '92 and '93. Looks hot in naked carbon fiber.
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