LE MANS: Peugeot Tames Spa 1000km

Le Mans / ALMS

LE MANS: Peugeot Tames Spa 1000km

Peugeot picks up the pieces as Audi R18 TDIs crumble in its race debut. Class winners include TDS Racing (LMP2) and AF Corse (GTE-Pro)...

John Dagys | Posted May 07, 2011 Francorchamps (BEL)

Team Peugeot Total scored 1-2 finish in Saturday's 1000km of Spa. (Photo: John Dagys)

After dominating practice and sweeping qualifying, Audi headed into Saturday’s 1000km of Spa as favorites for top honors in the second round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Yet after six hours of racing, diesel arch-rival Peugeot ended up on top after all three of the R18 TDIs hit trouble.

Alex Wurz, Marc Gene and Anthony Davidson steered their No. 7 Peugeot 908 to a 42.965-second win, scoring the first victory for the French manufacturer’s new-generation prototype.

PHOTOS: 1000km of Spa Race Gallery

Starting from 13th on the grid after getting caught out by a red-flagged qualifying session, Wurz took over the lead from pole-sitter Timo Bernhard on Lap 23. By the third hour, the French Lions ran 1-2-3 as each of the new Audis suffered various setbacks.

Peugeot dominated Saturday's 1000km of Spa, extending its lead in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. (Photo: DPPI/Le Mans Series)

The No. 1 Audi dropped back early after contact with a FLM car, which required a rear deck change, while the sister No. 3 R18 was plagued with a number of issues, including a spin by Allan McNish on the first lap and co-driver Dindo Capello later mistakenly hitting the pit lane speed limiter, which cost them further time.

With the third R18, the No. 2 machine of Benoit Treluyer making an unscheduled stop for excessive tire pickup, it virtually handed the race to the Peugeot camp. Davidson pulled out a gap during his middle stint before handing over to Gene to complete the six-hour enduro mistake-free.

“I saw what Alex was doing out there in the first stint and knew the car had the pace in race trim,” Davidson said. “So I was pretty confident the speed would be there. But we weren’t completely sure on strategy and how it was going to unfold... I think we expected to be very close, and like always, the team of drivers and cars that suffered the least problems went on to win the race.”

The No. 8 Peugeot of Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Nic Minassan came home second, making it a 1-2 for the French Lions. In fact, a Peugeot sweep of the LMP1 podium appeared possible if for not a late-race suspension failure for the No. 9 car of Simon Pagenaud. The 2010 ALMS champion settled for an eighth place finish.

Those late-race misfortunes gave the troubled No. 3 Audi of McNish, Capello and Tom Kristensen a podium result, despite Kristensen making an unscheduled stop with just over an hour remaining for a slow puncture and rear deck change after contact with a LMP2 car.

It initially dropped the Dane to fifth, but Kristensen crossed the line in third. The result marked the first race since 1999 that Audi lost when debuting a new car.

“We for sure had some issues. We were unlucky at some stages but [Peugeot] deserved the win,” Kristensen said. “We just have to do it better. We have a car that definitely has some pace. We need to work on it and need to learn it. Today has obviously given us a lot of input for what we can hopefully generate and get better.”

The pole-sitting No. 1 Audi of Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller came home fourth, ahead of the third R18 of Treluyer, Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer, which suffered an off in the third hour and two further costly delays.

Pescarolo Team’s Pescarolo-Judd was the best of the full-season Le Mans Series contenders in sixth, ahead of the No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Toyota in seventh.

With the 1-2 finish, Peugeot extendeds their lead in the ILMC Manufacturers' Cup to 17 points over Audi.

Top honors in LMP2 went to TDS Racing’s Mathias Beche, Pierre Thiret and Jody Firth, which used the fuel economy of its Oreca 03 Nissan to its maximum.

Beche crossed the line 43.699 seconds ahead of the similarly-prepared Boutsen Energy Racing Oreca-Nissan, which made two additional stops after suffering from a fuel pickup problem.

“To be honest, that was the most trouble-free race I’ve ever seen a LMP2 team have, really,” Firth said. “I think the key was some consistency, particularly in the last stint, Mattias did a great job of saving fuel. Strakka and Boutsen... needed a splash of fuel in the end. I think that’s what scored us the race.”

The win marked the first for chassis constructor Oreca in the new-look LMP2 category.

Strakka Racing's Danny Watts, Nick Leventis and Jonny Kane completed the podium in third after leading early in the hands of pole-man Watts.

Page 1 of 2

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dagys

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

LE MANS: OAK LMP2 Entry Switches To Nissan Power
French squad's No. 35 Morgan LMP2 of Bas Leinders, Maxime Martin…
GT: Dubai 24 Entry List Growing
More than 50 cars already entered for 2013 Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai...…
PHOTOS: Nürburgring 24 Gallery
UPDATED: View more than 250 photos from the 40th edition of the ADAC…