European Le Mans
Interlagos: Peugeot Sport qualifying report
Stephane Sarrazin secures his first pole position Although Stephane Sarrazin started June's Le Mans 24 Hours from pole position, the Frenchman and his team-mate Pedro Lamy had yet to qualify first on the grid of a Le Mans Series race since the ...
Edited: Nov 10, 2007, 2:50 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Stephane Sarrazin secures his first pole position
Although Stephane Sarrazin started June's Le Mans 24 Hours from pole position, the Frenchman and his team-mate Pedro Lamy had yet to qualify first on the grid of a Le Mans Series race since the beginning of the year.
As rain clouds gathered over the circuit of Interlagos, Sao Paulo, Stephane Sarrazin went out seven minutes before the end of today's qualifying session in a bid to improve on the excellent time set minutes previously by Marc Gene with the N7908 HDi FAP. The Frenchman's first flying lap saw him fall six tenths short but he continued to push during the second lap to beat his Spanish Peugeot Sport team- mate by almost two tenths.
The two 908 HDi FAPs will consequently start the race at noon on Saturday the start time of every round of the 2007 Le Mans Series for an endurance run of more than 1,600km which will see the chequered flag come down after nightfall at around 11pm (2am Sunday, CET).
Given the weather that has predominated in recent days, rain well could have an effect on the duel that opposes the N8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Pedro Lamy/Stephane Sarrazin and the Pescarolo of Jean-Christophe Boullion/Emmanuel Collard/Harold Primat for this year's Le Mans Series title. The Peugeot currently leads by two points and only needs to finish third to clinch the title.
Stephane Sarrazin: "I am particularly pleased to be starting from pole position here at this circuit which I have always liked ever since my only F1 race with Minardi in 1999. My 908 was nicely balanced and I feel very confident after the positive work put in by everyone in the team during free practice. I didn't make any mistakes and I pushed hard. My thoughts are already on Saturday's race which promises to be very difficult, especially if it rains. That said, we did some testing at Magny-Cours recently and we know the car well in wet conditions. Qualifying in first place today has a special flavour, and not only because we've been trying hard for pole position since the start of the season: Marc Gene and I had a score to settle that dated back to the days when we were team-mates in Formula 1!"
Pedro Lamy will start Saturday's race with the N8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, while Nicolas Minassian will take the wheel of the N7 car for the start.
-credit: peugeot
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Interlagos: Qualifying times
Next article Interlagos: Labre Competition qualifying report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jean-Christophe Boullion
Prototypes pre-race notes from La Sarthe
WEC
WEC
Prototypes pre-race notes from La Sarthe
Thirty seven car Spa entry list released
WEC
WEC
Thirty seven car Spa entry list released
Series Sebring race report
ALMS
ALMS
Series Sebring race report
Latest news
Colton Herta's F1 superlicence confusion explained: why he's still one point short
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
33 min
Colton Herta's F1 superlicence confusion explained: why he's still one point short
JGR wants deleted texts to be used as key evidence in Spire, Gabehart trial
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 37 min
JGR wants deleted texts to be used as key evidence in Spire, Gabehart trial
F1 Mexico GP: Charles Leclerc pips McLaren and Mercedes to top FP2
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
46 min
F1 Mexico GP: Charles Leclerc pips McLaren and Mercedes to top FP2
What's behind "absolute nonsense" Oliver Bearman contract rumours
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
What's behind "absolute nonsense" Oliver Bearman contract rumours
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe