Bourdais made the headlines with the fastest time on the Test Day at La Sarthe. (LAT Photo) » More Photos
Sebastien Bourdais' stock in Europe rose further at the annual Le Mans Test Day, when the Frenchman, tabbed by Peugeot to spearhead one of the new diesel-powered 908 prototypes, posted the fastest overall lap – ahead of Audi's trio of R10s – and broke the La Sarthe track record in the process.
"We made a couple of changes and the car went from acceptable to probably the most amazing car that I have driven," the triple Champ Car champion revealed. "The balance was absolutely perfect, and it is pretty unusual to get the balance right at Le Mans so I am happy.
If speed is clearly not the 908's problem, there remain issues that could preclude the car from being considered the favorite to win the enduro classic.
"It is all going to be about reliability, and that is the one thing that we are not sure about so we will keep our fingers crossed," Bourdais admitted. "[But] we have got a novel group of drivers behind the wheel and everyone can drive the way I did, so it's pretty encouraging."
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On the sister 908, Jacques Villeneuve's performance wasn't as stellar. The Canadian ended up fifth overall, 3.6s off Bourdais pace, but claimed sheer speed wasn't his priority at the Test Day.
JV poses with teammates Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian. (LAT Photo) » More Photos
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"We weren't looking for the absolute fastest time here so I didn't get involved in any setting up work," said the 1997 Formula 1 world champion. "I started with a couple of laps aimed primarily at learning the track, and I then went back out later in the day to do a series of long runs to see how the tires evolved.
"My biggest concern was the amount of traffic about. That's something new to me, especially since certain cars were taking some pretty bizarre lines."
