PEUGEOT SAYS: After several days of searing heat, the Georgian weather took a turn for the worse. Showers, storms and flooding caused the race to be interrupted shortly before the halfway point, with the N°08 Peugeot of Montagny and Sarrazin lapping ahead of the N°07 machine of Minassian and Lamy. In the end, the organisers chose not to send the cars back out, handing Peugeot its second one-two finish of the year following its triumph in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
Not once in the past 11 years has the 10-hour Petit Le Mans endurance race unfolded and ended in such appalling conditions. Following the intense heat that marked qualifying, the heavens opened early on raceday, prompting the warm-up session to be delayed, and the cars were forced to line up on the grid immediately after the handful of warm-up laps that were actually completed. This situation didn't make life easy for Team Peugeot Total which was unable to fine-tune its wet weather set-up prior to the start, especially since the 908 HDi FAP had never previously competed in such conditions.
The early part of the race soon saw the two French cars lose their lead and they were unable to match the pace of the Audis which took control of proceedings. The track then dried out a little on a couple of occasions in the course of the first hour, however, that gave first Pedro Lamy and Nicolas Minassian in the N°07 car a chance to close to within a handful of seconds of McNish's pace-setting Audi. Meanwhile, the N°08 sister car of Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin – which had trailed the leaders by as much as two laps at one point – succeeded in making up ground thanks to a carefully thought through strategy.
The displays of the two 908 HDi FAPs under the seven safety cars and the return of dry conditions then enabled the two Peugeot crews to take the battle to the McNish/Capello Audi, which led to a thrilling scrap and some breathtaking passing. A further safety-car intervention, the return of torrential rain and a spin by McNish put the seal on the final positions when the race was red flagged for safety reasons after 4 hours and 48 minutes! The teams remained in the starting blocks for almost four hours as they waited for the re-start, but in the end the organisers chose not to send the cars back out…
Not once in the past 11 years has the 10-hour Petit Le Mans endurance race unfolded and ended in such appalling conditions. Following the intense heat that marked qualifying, the heavens opened early on raceday, prompting the warm-up session to be delayed, and the cars were forced to line up on the grid immediately after the handful of warm-up laps that were actually completed. This situation didn't make life easy for Team Peugeot Total which was unable to fine-tune its wet weather set-up prior to the start, especially since the 908 HDi FAP had never previously competed in such conditions.
The early part of the race soon saw the two French cars lose their lead and they were unable to match the pace of the Audis which took control of proceedings. The track then dried out a little on a couple of occasions in the course of the first hour, however, that gave first Pedro Lamy and Nicolas Minassian in the N°07 car a chance to close to within a handful of seconds of McNish's pace-setting Audi. Meanwhile, the N°08 sister car of Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin – which had trailed the leaders by as much as two laps at one point – succeeded in making up ground thanks to a carefully thought through strategy.
The displays of the two 908 HDi FAPs under the seven safety cars and the return of dry conditions then enabled the two Peugeot crews to take the battle to the McNish/Capello Audi, which led to a thrilling scrap and some breathtaking passing. A further safety-car intervention, the return of torrential rain and a spin by McNish put the seal on the final positions when the race was red flagged for safety reasons after 4 hours and 48 minutes! The teams remained in the starting blocks for almost four hours as they waited for the re-start, but in the end the organisers chose not to send the cars back out…
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