Peugeot Finishes One Two in a Very Petite Le Mans

French automaker Peugeot breaks the Audi stranglehold by managing to survive a rain drenched race that was called after less than five hours

The four hours and forty-eight minutes of Le Mans

To say conditions at this year’s Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta were horrendous would be an understatement. And while the duel between the Audi Sport Team Joest and Team Peugeot Sport was certainly evident in qualifying, many race fans were left to wonder who might’ve come out on top if the weather had been more forgiving and the cars had been allowed to complete the entire race.

Weather for the practice laps was marked by intense heat as the thermometer topped out at 85 degrees and extremely high humidity. On Wednesday, the first day of practice, the track surface had very little grip even in the early afternoon due to heavy rains the previous day. Audi suffered two mishaps in practice on Wednesday and Thursday as both Luhr and Werner put their R15 into the weeds which necessitated a new monocoque for the number 1 car on Wednesday night.

Other than a brake problem on their number 7 car in the early going, Peugeot encountered no such issues and, in fact, was able to test both cars with a combined equivalent of close to 1,000 miles.

Qualifying

Qualifying day saw air temperatures reach 91 degrees, while the temperature of the track surface was measure at 104 degrees. At the end of the day, Peugeot had both 908 HDi FAP cars on the front row with the number 7 car on the pole ahead of the number 8 car.

Audi, meanwhile, placed both R15 TDI’s in the second row, with the number 2 car in the third spot and the number 1 car in fourth, just 28 thousands of a second behind.

Race day

Not once in 11 years has the Petite Le Mans been run in such unfavorable conditions. The warm-up session had to be delayed due to rain and the cars were forced to line up on the grid immediately after only a few warm-up laps had been completed and for Audi, it only went downhill from there.

After dominating the race in the early going (McNish and Capello led for 163 of the first 168 laps), both Peugeots were able to get by the Audi under the yellow flag when McNish spun the Audi minutes after the two hour mark. Shortly thereafter, it began to rain in earnest and race officials parked the cars in pit lane.

The rain abated and the cars returned to the track, but this time there were no position changes between Audi and Peugeot. Then the rain returned and the race was red flagged for safety reasons at the 4 hour and 48 minute mark with the cars remaining in the starting block for nearly four hours waiting for a re-start that never happened.

Final Results

Here are the final results of the 2009 Petit Le Mans:

1. (2) Stephane Sarrazin, France; Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (1, P1), 184.
2. (1) Pedro Lamy, Lisbon Portugal; Nicolas Minassian, England; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (2, P1), 184.
3. (3) Allan McNish, Scotland; Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Audi R15 TDI (3, P1), 184.
4. (4) Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi R15 TDI (4, P1), 182.
5. (6) Nicolas Lapierre, France; Romain Dumas, France; Olivier Panis, France; Oreca 01 AIM (5, P1), 181.
6. (26) David Brabham, Australia; Dario Franchitti, Scotland; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Acura ARX-02a (6, P1), 180.
7. (28) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Lola B09 86 Mazda (7, P2*), 177.
8. (22) Jaime Melo, Brazil; Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari F430 GT (1, GT2), 170.
9. (16) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Joerg Mueller, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (2, GT2), 169.
10. (21) Wolf Henzler, Germany; Dirk Werner, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (3, GT2), 169.
11. (15) Oliver Gavin, England; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Marcel Fassler, Switzerland; Corvette C6.R (4, GT2), 169.
12. (18) Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Joerg Bergmeister, Germany; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (5, GT2), 169.
13. (8) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Lola B09 86 Mazda (1, P2), 168.
14. (19) Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Antonio Garcia, Spain; Corvette C6.R (6, GT2), 168.
15. (25) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT2), 162.
16. (14) Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Tomy Drissi, Hollywood, CA; Matt Bell, Los Altos, CA; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (8, GT2), 157.
17. (7) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (8, P1), 152.
18. (20) Ian James, England; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford (9, GT2), 152.
19. (12) Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Tony Burgess, Canada; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Lola B06/10 AER (9, P1), 144, Accident.
20. (13) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT MK 7 (10, GT2), 142.
21. (11) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (2, P2), 139.
22. (10) Klaus Graf, Germany; Sascha Maassen, Germany; Greg Pickett, Alamo, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (3, P2), 136.
23. (23) Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Dominic Cicero, Portland, OR; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (11, GT2), 136.
24. (5) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Scott Dixon, New Zealand; Acura ARX-02a (10, P1), 136.
25. (17) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Andy Priaulx, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (12, GT2), 133.
26. (24) Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (13, GT2), 129.
27. (9) Jonny Cocker, UK; Robert Bell, UK; Paul Drayson, London, UK; Lola B09 60 Judd (11, P1), 123.
28. (27) Hideki Noda, Japan; Jose Manuel Balbiani, Argentina; Dion von Moltke, Coral Gables, FL; Radical SR9/AER (12, P1), 0.
29. (29) Adam Pecorari, Aston, PA; Gunnar Van der Steur, Chesapeake City, MD; Robbie Pecorari, Aston, PA; Radical SR9 AER (4, P2), 0.
30. (30) No drivers; Jaguar XK

All images courtesy of Audi of America

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