PEUGEOT WINS AT WET PETIT LE MANS AT ROAD ATLANTA
Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin gave Peugeot its first American Le
Mans Series victory on Saturday, winning a weather-shortened 12th annual
Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6. Race officials, citing hazardous
conditions due to torrential rains that fell at Road Atlanta just past the
four-hour mark, called the race at eight hours, 44 minutes running.
Peugeot's two diesel-powered factory prototype coupes finished 1-2 with the
pole-sitting 908 HDi of Pedro Lamy and Nic Minassian in second. The first
of Audi Sport Team Joest's Audi R15 TDIs placed third, the car driven by
Allan McNish and Dindo Capello. The Peugeot-Peugeot-Audi finish mirrored
the end result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
"We only did three races this year," Montagny said. "We missed Sebring by
only 22 seconds, and it was a win for the Peugeot team at Le Mans and a win
here. I think if we had a full time we really would have battled it out
with the Audis."
McNish and Capello dominated the race before the rains fell and led all but
five of the first 168 laps. The two Peugeots got past McNish under yellow
when the Scot looped the Audi under wet conditions barely past the two-hour
mark. A few minutes later, the skies opened and officials parked the cars
in pitlane.
"We started in the wet and it was difficult with a dry set-up," Sarrazin
said. "We were very far behind. But in the dry we could push very hard and
make up time. I could catch the two Audis and it was not too hard to
overtake them. But in the big rain it was just OK. We did our best in the
time we had and the team did a great job."
The highly anticipated battle between the Peugeots and the Audis lived up
to expectations in qualifying and the early part of the race. Both Montagny
and Sarrazin had to fight back from a lap down on more than one occasion
after the Peugeots' early race setup struggles.
It was sweet redemption for a team that lost out in last year's race by a
little more than four seconds to McNish and Capello in an Audi R10 TDI.
"We traveled thousands of miles to race here, so sure we'd love to have a
full race but we also enjoyed it," Montagny said. "Sure...at 300 kph, you
hit the water and you just keep going...it's not so much fun."
"The mechanics here have won Le Mans, so they are very good and they know
what they can do," Sarrazin added. "We are improving all the time, in the
race and in testing. I think we show that. And the drivers, we are always
giving the maximum just like our crew does."
Dyson Racing took its first Petit Le Mans victory with a victory in LMP2
for Marino Franchitti, Butch Leitzinger and Ben Devlin. Their Mazda-powered
Lola B09/86 coupe had problems with gear selection early, but the Acura ARX-
01b of Lowe's Fernandez Racing's Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz experienced
steering issues throughout.
Nevertheless, the duo completed enough laps to clinch the team championship
for Lowe's Fernandez and the manufacturer championships for Acura.
"We had a gearbox issue just once and the guys were able to fix it with
only one repair," said Franchitti, who qualified on the class pole. "I
think I saw every kind of condition possible here at Road Atlanta today. It
was especially great to bring a win here with the Mazda especially for a
race presented by the Mazda 6. And now the Dyson win for Petit is pretty
great."
Franchitti and Leitzinger were class winners at Lime Rock in July, the
first victory for the Dyson-Lola/Mazda partnership. The team also won for
the first time at Road Atlanta in American Le Mans Series competition.
"These guys made it easy for me and this had to be one of the toughest
conditions I've ever raced in," Devlin said. "Marino did a great job
keeping the car up there and so did Butch. By the time I got the car I just
had to keep it on the black. It was great how well the car has developed,
especially how I left it last year and the continued commitment and effort
from Mazda."
Things didn't look promising early as the Lola-Mazda dropped as far back as
27th overall before attrition started to take a toll on the class. There
were the problems with the Lowe's Fernandez car, and the Team Cytosport
Porsche RS Spyder of Klaus Graf, Sascha Maassen and Greg Pickett led 30
laps before a spin and loss of power sent it tumbling down the order.
"This event, it is truly amazing - year on year increased in significance
and attendance," Leitzinger said. "I was here for the first event in 1998.
The buzz just gets bigger and bigger. There are certain places that you go
to, Sebring, the Indy 500, Le Mans, and this really has attained that in
just a short amount of time and how everyone has embraced that. We've had
some really horrible disappointments here, and it was really important for
Dyson Racing to get this win here."
Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo, Pierre Kaffer and Mika Salo won in GT2 in
their Ferrari F430 GT, the fifth straight endurance victory for the team. A
brilliant call by Salo to take wet tires before the rest of the GT2 field
proved to be the difference, and it took him six laps to move the Ferrari
past the five cars in front of him to take the lead for good.
BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team's Dirk Muller, Jorg Muller and Tommy Milner
placed second in their BMW M3. Dirk Werner and Wolf Henzler were third in
their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, clinching the manufacturer championship for
Porsche.
"This is only my third race this year with the team," Salo said. "It is
such a good atmosphere; everyone works so hard. You can trust them and they
don't go off the track. It's so much a pleasure to drive with the Risi
team. We might not have been the fastest in the dry but in the wet we were
very quick."
The Ferrari began 10th on the GT2 grid after a tire puncture limited Melo
to one flying lap in qualifying. The Ferrari never cracked the top three
until the rain fell. The opening portion saw the top six cars in class on
the lead lap, another testament to the level of competition in the class.
The victory enabled the Risi team to stay alive in the class championship.
Melo and Kaffer are 19 points behind the Flying Lizard Motorsports' duo of
Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister with a maximum of 25 points remaining.
"It's a kind of strange race, but we had a competitive car," Melo said. "I
was a bit conservative at the beginning, the track was wet. I didn't take
any risk. I was feeling comfortable, and in the dry condition we had a good
car and could keep up with the guys right up to the last minute. Thanks to
Pierre for keeping the car good for his two stints. Our whole crew and the
strategy were phenomenal the whole time. Even the tires on wet and dry, we
could manage the car really good."
"Jamie was quick in the race. We made a change in the bar in my first stint
but we changed it back," Kaffer added. "I have to thank my team for working
so hard and this victory. I always can learn something from Mika, even from
today with not such a long stint, he made the important call today. In the
end, we are the lucky winner."
The Audi R15 TDI of McNish and Capello was the prototype winner in the
MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge, a revolutionary award that goes to the cars
that go the farthest the fastest and with the least environmental impact.
The second Flying Lizard Porsche of Seth Neiman, Johannes van Overbeek and
Darren Law was the GT winner. Porsche captured the manufacturer season
championship in the environmentally based efficiency competition.
The final race in the 2009 American Le Mans Series is the four-hour
Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey,
Calif. The green flag is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, October
10. The race will air on SPEED from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, October
11. Live coverage will be available via American Le Mans Radio presented by
Porsche via americanlemans.com, which also will feature Living Timing &
Scoring on Racehub. Live coverage also can be heard on Sirius 126 and XM
242. You can follow the Series on Twitter (almsnotes) and on our Facebook
page.
-credit: alms
