The 1,000 km endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend is the most important warm up for teams preparing for Le Mans (12-13 June), with front runners Audi and Peugeot both calling the event a “full dress rehearsal”. If so, the Germans might not want to follow the script for the main showdown, as their French rivals stormed to a one-two finish at Spa.
The trio of Sébastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Simon Pagenaud topped the podium ahead of teammates Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin in the sister 908 HDi FAP. Audi’s Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish was third. The No.1 Peugeot of Anthony Davidson, Marc Gene, Alex Wurz came home fourth, ahead of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller in their Audi R15 Plus. The Spa victory capped a great run up for Team Peugeot, as it was their fourth straight one-two finish.
The weekend got off to a great start for Peugeot with Bourdais putting the No.3 908 on pole. But on race day, first corner drama saw teammate Lamy drop down to ninth. The race was then interrupted by a number of safety car interventions, and the ensuing chaos saw Audi take the lead. When the race resumed, Peugeot upped its pace and chased down the lead Audi, only for the race to be interrupted again when an electricity power-cut affected the region and forced organisers to suspend the race.
With power restored, the race got underway again and the Peugeot drivers resumed their chase. Sébastien Bourdais, then had a good fight with Capello before taking the lead on Lap 71. The ex-F1 driver then handed over to Simon Pagenaud who defended his advantage despite a rain shower an hour before the finish. He took the risk of staying out on medium-compound tyres while the Audis opted for intermediates. The gamble paid off, and the No3 car went on to win by more than a minute. Peugeot has now gone unbeaten at Spa since 2007.
Sarrazin also stayed out on slicks in the No.2 Peugeot, although he did eventually switch to softer tyres, passing the Audi just two laps from the end. The No.1 could have made it a clean sweep for Peugeot but for an off track excursion by Marc Gené 30 minutes from the end of the race.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
So many ex-F1 drivers. :-)
ouiii….vive le peugeot!
i love peugeot… love my Pug…. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063078&id=1403560477&saved
Why Audi always got ‘tapau’ by Peugeot.
Haha.. pity Vorshprung!
Still, Audi roadcars are more handsome and sexy that Peugeot.
for me now pug takes double victory over audi since audi TT lost to pug RCZ…plus this one…
:lol:
still…i’m a fan of audi and so long legendary audi quattro…..maybe audi’s engineer have to under their sleeve for 24hour run on full Le Mans race?
somehow I find Le Mans style sports prototype racing much more interesting than F1, unlike F1 there are such a wide variety of engine types and body types, each factory team really put their engineering philosophies to practice test against their rivals.
u r right…
In terms of prestige, F1 normally has got the upper hand over Le Mans. But the level of technology of Le Mans Series cars, especially P1 class is quite comparable, if not could be more complex (aeros, engine, suspension) than F1, even though sportsprototype cars are less powerful than F1. And back in Group C racing days in late 1980s, not just the grid size was huge (big manufacturers involved), the cars are very powerful (1000+bhp) too and pleasant to look at (sportscar racing after all), which made it a real threat to F1 popularity. Nowadays, most of the time it’s only Peugeot vs Audi (and the occasional Lola Aston Martin). Hopefully Toyota & Nissan could consider a comeback.
Not to mention the prototype cars looks much sexier than the F1. The pug 908 is soo much better looking than the hedious 2010 Ferrari F1 car.
F1 is more popular because it only lasts 2 hours on tv and can be shown live.
peugeot seems to be doing well in rallying and le mans but the pugs that I have driven (owned 307SW) and 406/407 test driven have very modest acceleration.no doubt the cars are comfortable and handles well but perhaps the engine choices could be improved on. how about you guys who have driven the 308 turbo,can it qualify as a hot hatch or is it a wannabe?
Inside bone and guts are very near to perfect (6 speed gearbox instead of 4) but exterior looks like a mum’s car for shopping groceries.
VW Golf GTI, Ford Focus ST and Renaultsport Megane 250 are hot hatches.
Peugeot 308 Turbo is just a family car with a decent engine, I drive one and I don’t have any illusions that I can catch any of those cars mentioned above.
Congrats! Win again another day!