Peugeot dominates Le Mans opening practice

In the opening practice for next weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans race Peugeot crushed it's competition by putting the four fastest lap times on the scoreboard. The fastest car of the French car manufacturer was at the end of the four hour practice ...

In the opening practice for next weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans race Peugeot crushed it's competition by putting the four fastest lap times on the scoreboard. The fastest car of the French car manufacturer was at the end of the four hour practice almost four seconds faster than the highest ranked Audi.

#2 Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908: Nicolas Minassian, St?phane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny.

Photo by Eric Gilbert.

Even though new restrictions were added this year, it didn't stop Peugeot making their cars go much faster around the 13.6 km track of Le Mans. Franck Montagny drove in the No. 2 a lap of 1:20.034, which was already 2.8 seconds faster than last year's pole position. From the first minutes the fight for the top position was between the four Peugeots, while all Audi could do is trying to follow.

The No. 3 Peugeot (Pedro Lamy, Sebastien Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud) ended the practice session in second position, though they were 1.2 seconds slower than quickest time of the session. The No. 4 Team Oreca Matmut Peugeot followed in third spot. The fastest Audi, driven by veteran live-up Rinaldo 'Dindo' Capello, Tom Kristensen, Alan McNish, faced a 3.9 second gap with the fastest time.

The HPD ARX-01 seems to be the fastest car in qualifying trim this week. Highcroft- and Strakke Racing dominated the LMP2 session with the very fast HPD, with David Brabham setting the fastest time in the No. 26 Highcroft car in front of the No. 42 Strakka Racing car. With only one tenth of a second between both cars, the P2 class between both HPD teams seems to become a very interesting storyline this week.