LMS: Peugeot wins AUTOSPORT 1000km

[Plex]

Davidson and Minassain celebrate AUTOSPORT 1000km winAnthony Davidson and Nicolas Minassian breezed to victory in the AUTOSPORT 1000km after Peugeot's factory 908 HDi FAP LMP1 coupe proved ultimately dominant at Silverstone.

It might have been a different story if the pole-sitting Audi R15 TDI Plus of Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen had not retired within the first half-an-hour of the race. But instead the #7 car recorded Audi's first technical retirement since the introduction of the original R10 turbo-diesel on its debut at Sebring in 2006.

Having led initially until Davidson brilliantly forced his way by at Abbey to take the lead on lap nine, McNish stopped on lap 17 with a differential failure. And with that, stole some of the intensity of what promised to be a classic encounter between sportscar racing's two current powerhouses.

After the demise of the #7 car, Davidson and Minassian performed impeccably in a machine that ran flawlessly, producing a victory that was never much in doubt.

Davidson in particular, who was called on for two double-stints, ensured that the Oreca Peugeot which trailed in second was never close enough to provide a threat to the factory car - which made history by winning the inaugural round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

For Oreca there was still some glory to be enjoyed as Stephane Sarrazin, who shared the car with Nicolas Lapierre, was crowned Le Mans Series drivers' champion for the second time. The teams' championship also went Oreca's way.

Behind the two French cars, Timo Bernhard and Rinaldo Capello came home third in the sister Audi, but in truth, the car never looked capable of fighting with the top two and third was where it deserved to finish.

Stefan Mucke brought home the #009 factory Aston Martin to win the 'petrol' division of the race. Mucke, along with his team-mates Sam Hancock and Juan Barazi, moved stealthily up the field as others hit problems and delivered a strong fourth, three laps behind the winning car.

Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost were fifth for Rebellion while the Signature Aston Martin was sixth. Both had survived separate scrapes, while those around them suffered heavier penalties for their problems.

The LMP2 category provided a much more enthralling race as the Strakka Acura fought back from mid-race misfortune to score a deserved victory.

Having established a strong early lead with Jonny Kane on formidable from through the traffic, team-mate Nick Leventis was unlucky to be caught by the GT2 Spyker during his stint which dropped the car to fourth in class as it pitted for repairs.

Leventis recovered the car back on to the lead lap before handing over to Danny Watts who forged back into the lead ahead of Olivier Pla in the Oak Racing Pescarolo.

The Acura's win was not enough to prevent RML taking the LMP2 title with Tommy Erdos, Mike Newton and Ben Collins finishing fourth.

JMW were denied a famous win for Aston Martin in GT2 following a late drive-through penalty. A late splash-and-dash for fuel also made it impossible for Rob Bell and Darren Turner to make it a win for the Vantage, which had led the category for the majority of the race.

It eventually dropped to third behind winners AF Corse's Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni, in their Ferrari. Richard Westbrook and Marc Holzer were second in the Prospeed Porsche.

There was joy too for Felbermayr as Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz took the GT2 drivers' LMS title with fifth place in the race.

Warren Hughes and Jody Firth won the Formula Le Mans class for DAMs, beating the Hope Polevision car of Steve Zacchia and Olivier Lombard.

Gabriele Gardel, Patrice Gouselard and Fernando Rees finished the GT1 class as the only runner in the Larbre Saleen.

Pos Cl Drivers Car Time/Gap
1. LMP1 Minassian/Davidson Peugeot 5h11m41.835s
2. LMP1 Lapierre/Sarrazin Peugeot + 42.920s
3. LMP1 Bernhard/Capello Audi + 1m46.357s
4. LMP1 Barazi/Hancock/Mucke Lola Aston Martin + 3 laps
5. LMP1 Prost/Jani Lola-Rebellion + 5 laps
6. LMP1 Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx Lola Aston Martin + 6 laps
7. LMP1 Mansell/Mansell Ginetta-Zytek + 9 laps
8. LMP2 Leventis/Watts/Kane HPD + 10 laps
9. LMP2 Amaral/Pla Ginetta-Zytek + 10 laps
10. LMP2 Moreau/Hein Pescarolo-Judd + 10 laps
11. LMP1 Drayson/Cocker Lola-Judd + 13 laps
12. LMP2 Erdos/Newton/Collins Lola HPD + 13 laps
13. LMP2 Case/Babini/Leo Lola-Judd + 17 laps
14. FLM Firth/Hughes FLM ORECA + 18 laps
15. FLM Zacchia/Lombard FLM ORECA + 18 laps
16. LMP2 Lahaye/Nicolet Pescarolo-Judd + 19 laps
17. FLM Pillon/Verdonck/Hollings FLM ORECA + 19 laps
18. LMP2 Pirri/Cioci/Perazzini Lola-Judd + 20 laps
19. LMP2 Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik Ginetta-Zytek + 20 laps
20. FLM Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon FLM ORECA + 21 laps
21. LMP2 Ordonez/de Pourtales/Kennard Lola-Judd + 22 laps
22. LMP1 Burgess/Mowlem/Mcmurry Ginetta-Zytek + 22 laps
23. LMGT2 Bruni/Melo Ferrari + 23 laps
24. LMGT2 Westbrook/Holzer Porsche + 23 laps
25. LMGT2 Bell/Turner Aston Martin + 23 laps
26. LMGT2 Kirkaldy/Mullen Ferrari + 24 laps
27. LMGT2 Lieb/Lietz Porsche + 24 laps
28. LMGT2 Pilet/Narac Porsche + 25 laps
29. LMGT2 Dumbreck/Coronel Spyker + 25 laps
30. LMGT2 Muller/Werner BMW + 25 laps
31. LMGT2 Companc/Russo Ferrari + 25 laps
32. LMGT2 Ragginger/Ried/Dumas Porsche + 25 laps
33. FLM Kraihamer/De Crem/Delhez FLM ORECA + 29 laps
34. LMGT2 Giroix/Goethe Lamborghini + 35 laps
35. LMGT2 Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander Ferrari + 36 laps
36. LMGT2 Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer Ferrari + 36 laps
37. LMP1 Belicchi/Boullion Lola-Rebellion + 37 laps
38. LMGT1 Gardel/Goueslard/Rees Saleen + 39 laps
39. FLM Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne FLM ORECA + 40 laps
40. LMP2 Frey/Bruneau/Rostan Radical-Judd + 46 laps

Retirements:

LMP2 Gates/Garofall/Phillips MG Lola AER 141 laps
LMP1 Fernandez/Meyrick/Primat Lola Aston Martin 131 laps
LMGT2 Farnbacher/Simonsen Ferrari 44 laps
LMP1 Kristensen/Mcnish Audi 15 laps
LMP2 Schell/Da Rocha Courage-ORECA 2 laps

Autosport