H+6: Peugeot 908 n°1 escapes

After the stints of Marc Gené and Anthony Davidson, Alexander Wurz is the last driver of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP n°1 to get behind the wheel. He inherits it in a good position since he starts in first place. Far from being satisfied with this, the Austrian, as the laps go by, increases his lead over the second Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, the n°2 currently driven by Nicolas Minassian. The gap increased to 25 seconds after 5h30 of racing, twenty minutes before a second neutralization disrupted these 24 Hours of Le Mans.

If, in certain disciplines, the arrival of a safety car can close the gaps at the front of the race, it is the opposite at Le Mans. Positioning behind one or the other of the two safety cars can significantly increase the gap between cars or two groups of cars. This is what happened at the start of the race, after Nigel Mansell?s accident. The Peugeots, placed behind the first safety car, saw their lead increase over the Audi drivers, stuck behind the second safety car.

During the second neutralization, which occurred at 20:51 p.m., the same phenomenon occurred, but between the two leading Peugeots. The No. 908 1 of Alex Wurz then heads into the first group, while Nico Minassian waits in the second. After the restart and at the end of the symbolic milestone of one hundred laps, the verdict is clear: 1:10?? gap between the two cars. A nice advantage for number 1.

Third, the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP n°4 from Oreca put in a serious race. Olivier Panis is thus at 1?15?? from second place and has 2?15?? ahead of the No. 15 (Benoit Tréluyer) and No. 8 (Mike Rockenfeller) Audi R9 TDIs, which are rolling wheel to wheel.