Vive la France Peugeot Places 1 and 2 at Le Mans

The Lion places first and second at Le Mans with Audi Sport Team Joest avoiding a washout by managing a third place finish with last years winners who finished 6 laps down from the leader.

Third time a charm

At LotPro.com we see that, for Peugeot, 2009 was payback time for two previous years filled with frustration as the French manufacturer was finally able to solve the teething problems that had plagued the 908 HDi FAP in both 2007 and 2008.

This year’s qualifying worked right into the hands of Peugeot with the battle-tested and tweaked 908. Audi, on the other hand, found very little time to dial in the new Audi R 15 TDI. With only Wednesday evening’s free practice (in the rain), the Germans were forced to do much of their sorting out during qualifying on Thursday.

Still, Audi managed to grid the three R 15’s in rows 1, 3 and 4, while Peugeot was able to place one car in each of the first 3 rows.

Early on

At the start, the No. 8 Peugeot came through the first corner ahead of the No. 1 Audi, while the No. 7 Peugeot passed the same Audi just a few minutes later. On lap 2 the No. 9 Peugeot passed the best-placed Audi and, just like that, Peugeot found itself 1-2-3 less than 5 minutes into the race.

Its first pit stop resulted in a mishap when the No. 7 Peugeot was damaged exiting the pit area (due to a communications misunderstanding with the Pescarolo-run Peugeot No. 17) and it had to complete a lap before re-entering the pits. At the end of the third hour, No. 8 and No. 9 Peugeots were running 1-2.

By the sixth hour, the No. 8 Peugeot was forced to pit with a mechanical problem, but the No. 9 Peugeot was 41 seconds ahead of the No. 1 Audi and one lap up on the No. 2 Audi with the No. 8 Peugeot 2 laps down and the No. 7 Peugeot 6 laps down. A half hour later, the No. 2 Audi was forced to retire after it slammed backwards into the tire wall at the Porsche Curves and it began to lose oil.

Halfway and more – and no rain

By the halfway point, the No. 7 Peugeot that had been involved in the pit-lane tangle had moved from 51st place back to 7th overall, while the top three spots were occupied by the No. 9 Peugeot, the No. 1 Audi and the No. 8 Peugeot, respectively.

By the 18th hour, Peugeot was clearly showing its superiority in speed. Peugeots No. 9 and No. 8 occupied the top two spots, separated by a minute and thirty-six, with the No. 1 Audi in third, two laps behind.

The Finish

At the end of the race, the No. 9 and No. 8 Peugeots were 1-2, with the No. 8 car officially finishing 1 lap down. The No. 1 Audi finished in third, 6 laps down from the winner, while the No. 7 Peugeot finished in 6th place.

This year’s win marked the first since 1993 for Peugeot and, except for a short time early in the race, it lead from start to finish (initially with the No. 8 car and then with the No. 9 car which lead the race from just ahead of the five hour mark).

Note: all photos courtesy of Peugeot and Audi

Tags: 908 HDi FAP, audi, audi r 15 tdi, le mans, peugeot, porsche, porsche curves