H+12: Peugeot makes the double

So many firsts at Sebring! First victory of Peugeot in Florida, first victory for a French manufacturer in this race, first victory for Davidson in his first race with Peugeot? If the Lion firm had few or no opponents for the final victory, the consistency displayed by the victorious car at the 12 Hours of Sebring commands admiration. Sebastian Bourdais, at the wheel of the 908 No. 08, did achieve the best lap in the race, but the Wurz/Gené/Davidson trio showed themselves to be impeccable, taking advantage of a successful strategy regarding pit stops, while having had a little success during neutralizations.

After eleven hours of racing, the two 908s were still fighting for victory. During the last restart, Alex Wurz got a better start than Sébastien Bourdais, widening the gap on the Frenchman's 908 little by little. The final pit stop for each of the two cars strengthened Alex Wurz?s lead, with Seb Bourdais spinning out of the pitlane. The Austrian was therefore able to fly to victory, with a lead of 13??8 at the end of 12 hours of racing, a smaller gap than between the first two in 2009.

In the end, Peugeot displayed a very good level of reliability, suffering no visible problems, and not losing any time in the pitlane. This race also showed that cars with diesel engines maintain their advantage over gasoline ones, even if the LMP1 field was particularly poor. At the start of the race, the Lola Drayson driven by Emanuele Pirro still bothered the Peugeots thanks to a nice burst of speed.

En LMP2, catégorie qui ne comptait que trois voitures au départ, c?est la Porsche RS Spyder du Muscle Milk Team Cytosport qui s?est imposée, profitant de la défaillance de la HPD ARX-01c du Patron Highcroft Tacing. La voiture pilotée par David Brabham, simon pagenaud and Marino Franchitti suffered an electrical problem, a cable having suffered wear due to friction.

In GT2, the suspense was less than expected since it is the Ferrari F430 from Risi Competizione driven by Jaime Melo, Gianmaria Bruni and Pierre Kaffer who won, after quickly taking control of the category. The two BMW E92 M3s finished in second and third place, while the two Chevrolet Corvettes experienced multiple setbacks, notably colliding in the pits. Note, in the LMPC category (Formula Le Mans), the victory of Christophe Bouchut with Scott Tucker and Mark Wilkins.