Second place Peugeot finds itself part of an Audi sandwich as it manages a podium finish with both Audi LMP1 R15 TDIs.
Less than auspicious start for Rahal Letterman BMW M3
Saturday’s annual running of the 12 hours of Sebring ended up being a duel between the two diesel-equipped superpowers of endurance racing, Audi and Peugeot. But while less than 23 seconds separated the first Audi R15 TDi team of McNish/Capello/Kristensen and the second Peugeot 908 HDi FAP team of Montagny/Bourdais/Sarrazin, the third place Audi R15 TDi Team of Rockenfeller/Werner/Luhr was 2 laps down while the first Peugeot team was forced to retire with 25 minutes left in the race with a gearbox failure.
Leading up to Saturday’s race, of course, was the amazing run of Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon, as he put the number 66 Acura ARX-02 of de Ferren/Pagenaud/Dixon on the pole. Unfortunately, the car retired at the eight-hour mark due to a front suspension problem. The second ARX-02, driven by Brabham/Franchitti/Sharp was running in the top 5 overall after ten hours when it, too, had to return to the garage with a transmission malfunction.
Acura was more fortunate in the LMP 2 class as Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz took first place as well as fourth place overall in the Acura ARX-01b.
A second straight GT1 victory was scored by Corvette Racing’s Johnny O’Connell in a Corvette C6.R, while Rizi Competizione won the GT2 class for the second time in three years in a Ferrari F430 GT. Meanwhile, the BMW M3 Rahal Letterman team suffered a number of teething problems with the No. 90 car retiring after 27 laps with an oil leak while the No. 92 car suffered a mechanical problem while leaving the pits at the five hour mark.
Here are the 2009 results:
1. (2) Allan McNish, Scotland; Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Tom Kristensen, Denmark; Audi R15 TDI (1st, P1), 383 laps.
2. (5) Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; Sebastien Bourdais, France; Stephane Sarrazin, France; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (2nd, P1), 383 laps.
3. (4) Mike Rockenfeller, Germany; Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi R15 TDI (3rd, P1), 381 laps.
4. (7) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (1st, P2), 360 laps.
5. (3) Pedro Lamy, Lisbon Portugal; Christian Klien, Austria; Nicolas Minassian, England; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (4th, P1), 356 laps.
6. (12) Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Antonio Garcia, Spain; Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Corvette C6.R (1st, GT1), 349 laps.
7. (11) Oliver Gavin, England; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Marcel Faessler, Switzerland; Corvette C6.R (2nd, GT1), 348 laps.
8. (27) Mika Salo, Finland; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (1st, GT2), 332 laps.
9. (15) Gianmaria Bruni, Italy; Mathias Russo, Argentina; Luis Companc, Argentina; Ferrari 430 GT (2nd, GT2), 330 laps.
10. (17) Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Ian James, England; Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford (3rd, GT2), 329 laps.
11. (14) Joerg Bergmeister, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (4th, GT2), 326 laps.
12. (24) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (5th, GT2), 326 laps.
13. (23) Nic Jonsson, Sweden; Eric van de Poele, Belgium; Tracy Krohn, Houston, TX; Ferrari F430 GT (6th, GT2), 325 laps.
14. (16) David Murry, Cumming, GA; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT MK 7 (7th, GT2), 303 laps.
DNF
15. (6) David Brabham, Australia; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Dario Franchitti, Scotland; Acura ARX-02a (5th, P1), 302 laps, Drive line.
16. (13) Dirk Werner, Germany; Richard Lietz, Austria; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (8th, GT2), 274 laps.
17. (19) Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Ritchie Holt, Davie, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (9th, GT2), 251 laps, Clutch.
18. (1) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Scott Dixon, New Zealand; Acura ARX-02a (6th, P1), 246 laps, Mechanical.
19. (20) Robert Bell, UK; Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Aston Martin Vantage GT2 (10th, GT2), 204 laps, Engine.
20. (9) Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Tony Burgess, Canada; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Lola B06/10 AER (7th, P1), 151 laps, Electrical.
21. (10) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Ben Devlin, England; Lola B09 86 Mazda (2nd, P2), 149 laps, Mechanical.
22. (26) Dirk Mueller, Germany; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; BMW E92 M3 (11th, GT2), 140 laps.
23. (8) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Andy Lally, New York, NY; Lola B09 86 Mazda (3rd, P2), 127 laps, Mechanical.
24. (22) Lou Gigliotti, Dallas, TX; Eric Curran, Easthampton, MA; Lucas Molo, Brazil; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (12th, GT2), 89 laps, Mechanical.
25. (25) Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (8th, P1), 77 laps.
26. (18) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; BMW E92 M3 (13th, GT2), 27 laps, Mechanical.
27. (21) Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Hans Stuck, Germany; Johannes Stuck, Austria; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (14th, GT2), 0 laps, Withdrawn.
28. (28) Richard Westbrook, England; Marc Basseng, Germany; Lance David, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (15th, GT2), 0 laps
Tags: , Acura, acura arx-01b, acura arx-02, audi, audi r15 tdi, BMW, bmw m3, corvette, ferrari, ferrari f430, ferrari f430 gt, peugeot, peugeot 908 hdi fap, rahal letterman, sebring
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