Sebring: Peugeot leads the way

La nouvelle Peugeot 908 took the start of its first test session yesterday against its competitors. While waiting for the arrival of the R18 TDI at Spa (May 7), it is up to the valiant Audi R15 plus TDI, victorious in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2010, to respond to the lion of Sochaux. Both did not miss the meeting, each leading a session, Franck Montagny nevertheless offering the French prototype the best time of the day, having only completed 10 laps in the afternoon.

Second fastest in the second session, the HPD ARX-01e did not miss its entry and concluded the day fourth in the hierarchy, behind the second Audi R15 plus of Dumas-Bernhard-Rockenfeller, but ahead of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Oreca Stone-Pani-Duval. The latter did not seek performance, seeking above all to refine the set-up. Rebellion, sixth, places itself in ambush with Cheers-Jani-Bleekemolen.

In LM P2, a solid success for the Signatech Nissan team which places its Oreca 03 chassis at the top of the hierarchy in both sessions. Mailleux-Ayari-Ordonez finished the day with a good lead over the Lola-HPD of Level 5, driven by Bouchut-Tucker-Barbosa.

The LM GT category promises to be fiercely contested. In total today's times, 3/1 of a second separates the top 5 dominated by the BMW M3 of Rahal Lettermann Lanigan of Auberlen-Farfus-Werner. While waiting for the rise of the new Ferrari 458, la F430 AF Corse de Fisichella-Bruni-Kaffer s?est classée quatrième derrière la BMW, la Corvette de Beretta-Garcia-Milner et la Porsche Flying Lizard de Bergmeister-Lieb-Long.

Resumption of testing today with two one-hour sessions on the program.

Cumulative ranking Day 1

LM P1
1. Peugeot 908 n°8 (Sarrazin-Montagny-Lamy) 1?47??678*
2. Audi R15 plus n°2 (Kristensen-McNish-Capello) 1
3. Audi R15 plus n°1 (Dumas-Bernhard-Rockenfeller) 1?48??025*
4. HPD ARX-01e Highcroft n°01 (Brabham-Franchitti-Pagenaud) 1?48??448
5. Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Oreca n°10 (Lapierre-Duval-Panis) 1?48??747*
6. Lola-Toyota Rebellion n°12 (Prost-Jani-Bleekemolen) 1?50??283, etc.

LM P2
1. Signatech-Nissan n°26 (Mailleux-Ayari-Ordonez) 1?55??626
2. Lola-HPD Level 5 n°33 (Bouchut-Tucker-Barbosa) 1?58??970
3. OAK Pescarolo-Judd n°35 (Da Rocha-Lafargue-Barlesi) 2?01??306, etc.

LMPC
1. FLM n°005 (Bennett-Montecalvo-Dalziel) 1?55??060*
2. FLM n°006 (Jeannette-Gonzalez) 1?55??383*
3. FLM n°052 (Dobson-Lewis-Richard) 1?56??195*, etc.

LMGT
1. BMW M3 RLL n°55 (Auberlen-Farfus-Werner) 2?01??562*
2. Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard n°045 (Bergmeister-Long-Lieb) 2?01??714*
3. Corvette C6 n°03 (Garcia-Beretta-Milner) 2?01??777
4. Ferrari 430 AF Corse n°51 (Fisichella-Bruni-Kaffer) 2?01??829*
5. BMW M3 RLL n°56 (Muller-Priaulx-Hand) 2?01??896, etc.

* Chronos signed in the morning