PEUGEOT TAKES 4TH POLE OF THE SEASON
Sunny conditions prevailed for what proved to be an exciting qualifying session. Back to full fitness after recovering from his bike accident, Anthony Davidson secured his second pole position of the season and the Peugeot 908’s fourth this year. Stéphane Sarrazin qualified in third position. With an extra point awarded for pole position, Peugeot now only needs eleven points to wrap up a second consecutive Manufacturers’ title. However, the narrow gaps between the leading cars point to a very close and hard-fought race.
A tight match
Pole position for Anthony Davidson
Anthony Davidson, Peugeot 908 no.7: “I am very pleased to take this pole position; it’s the best way to start the race. It’s going to be very close. History has so far repeated itself compared with last year, except that in 2010 my car finished second, so I hope we are going to gain a place this year! After injuring my shoulder in a bike accident, it’s a good comeback. The last seven weeks have been difficult. I had to pull out of my home race, so it’s really pleasing to set the best lap today. This is the first time that the three of us have raced together, Sébastien Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud and myself. We’ve got off to a good start. We work well together and the team has once again done a super job all week. The race will be very closely contested. We saw in the free practice sessions just how much attention we’ll have to pay to the traffic. The slightest error can be very costly here, so we’ll need to be really focussed from the start to the end.”
Stéphane Sarrazin, Peugeot 908 no.8: “The session didn’t go exactly as we had hoped, in spite of the fact our car was running very well. I was impeded by another prototype on my best lap. That cost me time, meaning that I ended up third. I am disappointed because with the performance level of our car, we deserved better. I’ve missed out on pole quite a few times now. Nonetheless, the race looks good, because with Franck Montagny and Alex Wurz we have defined a set-up that suits us all and which seems to be effective. Obviously, there is going to be a lot of traffic during the race, and that will be key. Every car will be difficult to overtake; we'll need to avoid making any errors if we’re to get a good result.”
Positions after qualifying of Road-Atlanta Petit Le Mans 2011 :
1. Peugeot 908 #7 - Anthony Davidson - 1’07’’428
2. Audi R18 #1 - Timo Bernhard - 1’07’’558
3. Peugeot 908 #8 - Stéphane Sarrazin - 1’07’’881
4. Audi R18 #2 - Dindo Capello - 1’08’’013
5. Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP #10 - Nicolas Lapierre - 1’09’’777
Practical information: Sébastien Bourdais, Anthony Davidson and Simon Pagenaud will be driving the Peugeot 908 no.7 with blue rear-view mirrors. Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz will share driving duties in the Peugeot 908 no.8, recognisable by its white rear-view mirrors.
Sébastien Bourdais and Franck Montagny will line up for the start on Saturday at 11.30am (local time)
Follow live coverage of the 1,000 miles or 10 hours of Road Atlanta Petit Le Mans (GMT-5) Live text : www.peugeot-sport.com Live timing and race: www.americanlemans.com Live race: www.lemans.org Live radio : www.radiolemans.com
Television: Eurosport International: 5.30pm-6.30pm/12.00am-3.30am (CET) Eurosport France: 5.15pm-6.30pm/12.00am-3.30am (CET) Speed Channel ESPN3
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Timing: GMT-5
Saturday, 1 October 2011 9.15am – 9.40am (CET: 3.15pm – 3.40pm): Warm up 11.30am (CET: 5.30pm): Start of the 14th edition of the Petit Le Mans race. 1,000 miles or 10 hours
A must-see race! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlefnx_ilmc-petit-le-mans-2011-teaser_auto
Peugeot Sport/ Para Prensa Autorizada y Acreditada.
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