PEUGEOT UPSETS AUDI AT SEBRING

PEUGEOT SAYS: Since their arrival in Florida at the end of last week, Peugeot and the drivers fo the team’s two 908 HDi FAPs have been busy preparing for the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours. Despite suffering a couple of setbacks during testing earlier in the week, both cars took part in the afternoon’s qualifying session which saw five cars lap within half a second of each other as Peugeot claimed places on the third and fifth rows of the grid.



“Like Le Mans, Sebring is a real endurance race, so starting from pole position wasn’t a priority for us. Qualifying was essentially just a chance for us to prepare for the race and we only put in the number of laps we deemed necessary which means we have spared our tyres. We are pleased with our lap times and the main objective comes on Saturday, not before. That said, seeing how qualifying unfolded, with all the LMP1s bunched so close together, it promises to be a very close race. We have no intention of taking any risks. Our goal is to prepare for Le Mans,” stated Peugeot Sport Director Olivier Quesnel.



Sébastien Bourdais’ single qualifying lap saw him secure a satisfactory 1m 45.559s before returning to his pits. “There was no point in staying out any longer,” he explained. “The car is going well and I was able to push hard at once to set a time straight away. Franck Montagny will start with our car and he will benefit from tyres that have barely been scrubbed.”



The build-up to qualifying turned out to be quite eventful for the two Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs. Sébastien Bourdais went off on Tuesday morning’s session and damaged his car’s front and rear body work. Then, just hours later, the team encountered a problem with the under body of the Nº 07 car. “This under body had been repaired by our subcontractor following a crash last year,” explained Bruno Famin, Peugeot Sport’s Technical Director.



The repairs clearly weren’t carried out properly, though, and we had to find a solution here on site with our own composites specialist. We will keep a close eye on the situation during the race.’



Portugal’s Pedro Lamy (Nicolas Minassian/Christian Klien) will start in the Nº 07 car and Frenchman Franck Montagny (Stéphane Sarrazin/Sébastien Bourdais) will start with the Nº 08 sister car.



Qualifying – final positions:

1. Acura (66): 1m 45.278s

2. Audi (2): 1m 45.360s

3. Peugeot 07 (Christian Klien): 1m 45.462s

4. Audi (1): 1, 45.551s

5. Peugeot 08 (Sébastien Bourdais): 1m 45.559s

6. Aura (9): 1m 46.504s