Team Peugeot Total, which is at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend to prepare for June's Le Mans 24 Hours, has secured first, third and seventh places on May 8th morning's grid.
Since the beginning of last week, there has been a distinctly wintry feel about the weather in the Belgian Ardennes and that has made the work of the technicians and engineers somewhat complex and fastidious. The recent combination of rain and sleet cleared up just in time for Saturday afternoon's qualifying session.
Although running to different strategies and with different technical specifications, every one of the three factory Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs contested the qualifying session with an equal chance of securing pole position.
Sébastien Bourdais was the first driver out in the N°3 car for a run of two flying laps, the second of which saw him post a promising 1m 57.884s which put his Peugeot 908 HDi FAP at the top of the provisional order. Next out was Alexander Wurz in the N°1 machine, but the Austrian was hampered by traffic during his flying lap and could manage no better than a 1m 59.989s. Last but not least, it was Stéphane Sarrazin's turn to take out the N°2 car, and his bid was rewarded with third on the grid thanks to a time of 1m 59.421s.
After 139 laps and five pit stops, the trio of Sébastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Simon Pagenaud obtained victory again.
Olivier QUESNEL: "Since our arrival here, our job hasn't been facilitated by the changing weather and extremely cold temperatures. It will be a case of taking as few risks as possible, and we won't hesitate to drop a place rather than risk an accident. The chief objective for everyone in the team continues to be the Le Mans 24 Hours. Consequently, we will focus on our refuelling stops and race strategy tomorrow, while the drivers will concentrate on managing the traffic."
May 9th 2010
On 9th May it was again the Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP which astounded the opposition.
The final stage of the race was edge of the seat thrills. The 7km stretch of tarmac in the Ardennes forest dried out and allowed the competitors to switch to slick tyres.
Just before the finish line, the excitement was palpable as Peugeot's Stephane Sarrazin, eventually overtook Tom Kristensen in his Audi R15. With this maneuver at the end of the race, Sarrazin (co-drivers Franck Montagny and Nicolas Minassian) made it a one-two finish for Peugeot. Audi eventually had to settle for third and fifth.
This 1,000-kilometre race served as a full-scale dress rehearsal ahead of Le Mans for Team Peugeot Total. The aim was to fully prepare for Le Mans in terms of weather, track and of course – competition. Prepare they did.