ILMC/ALMS : Petit Le Mans 2011

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Peugeot On Petit Le Mans Pole

Peugeot's Anthony Davidson pipped Audi's Timo Bernhard to pole position for Saturday's 14th annual Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda by a scant .128 seconds, setting a best lap of 1:07.428 to the German's 1:07.556.

Diesel-powered cars accounted for the five fastest times during the one-hour session.

In LMP2, Level 5's Luis Diaz set the fastest time in his HPD-HPD ahead of 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion JK Vernay in his ORECA-Nissan.

The GT pole went to Gimmi Bruni in the Risi Ferrari F458, while Rui Aguas (GTE), Kyle Marcelli (LMPC) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (GTC) earned their respective class poles.

A total of 54 cars set qualifying times, with a gap of 17.778 seconds from Davidson to the slowest car, the No. 77 Porsche GTC car driven by Craig Stanton.

Check back soon for a complete qualifying report.

Speedtv

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Peugeot driver Anthony Davidson claimed his second straight pole for the Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta.

The Briton secured the top spot in qualifying on his first flying lap aboard the Peugeot 908 turbodiesel he shares with Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud. His time of 1m07.428s put him just over a tenth clear of Audi driver Timo Bernhard.

Davidson said: "The first lap was not perfect and I actually drove better on my second lap, but the tyres were just past their best. I'm still chuffed to bits because it is my third pole in three qualifying attempts with Peugeot."

Stephane Sarrazin ended up third in the second Peugeot, three tenths behind Bernhard. Rinaldo Capello was fourth in the second Audi R18 TDI.

Andrea Belicchi topped the petrol-powered LMP1 runners aboard the solo Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota. His 1m10.123 lap was three tenths better than Olivier Pla in the best of the OAK Racing Pescarolo-Judds.

Luis Diaz snatched the LMP2 pole on his last lap for the Level 5 HPD team, edging out Jean-Karl Vernay in the Signatech ORECA-Nissan. Gianmaria Bruni took GT honous in the AF Corse Ferrari 458.

Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time
1. P1 Bourdais/Pagenaud/Davidson Peugeot 1m07.428s
2. P1 Bernhard/Dumas/Fassler Audi 1m07.556s
3. P1 Montagny/Sarrazin/Wurz Peugeot 1m07.881s
4. P1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi 1m08.013s
5. P1 Lapierre/Minassian/Gene ORECA Peugeot 1m09.777s
6. P1 Prost/Jani/Belicchi Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m10.123s
7. P1 Pla/Premat/Yvon OAK Pescarolo 1m10.355s
8. P1 Fernandez/Primat/Mucke AMR Lola-Aston 1m10.485s
9. P1 Al Masaood/Kane/Leitzinger Dyson Lola-Mazda 1m10.811s
10. P1 Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues OAK Pescarolo 1m10.864s
11. P1 Luhr/Graf/Pickett Muscle Milk Lola-Aston 1m10.948s
12. P1 Dyson/Smith/Cochran Dyson Lola-Mazda 1m11.396s
13. P2 Tucker/Franchitti/Diaz Level 5 HPD 1m12.335s
14. P2 Mailleux/Ordonez/Vernay Signatech ORECA-Nissan 1m12.640s
15. P2 Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa Level 5 HPD 1m12.729s
16. P2 Nicolet/da Rocha/Lafargue OAK Pescarolo 1m14.654s
17. PC Ducote/Ducote/Marcelli/Drissi Intersport FLM 1m14.848s
18. P2 Brown/Johansson/Patterson United OAK Pescarolo 1m15.158s
19. PC Grogor/Mitchell/Kronfli/Cameron Genoa FLM 1m15.591s
20. PC Dobson/Richard/Lewis PR1 Mathiasen FLM 1m15.649s
21. PC Jeannette/Gonzalez/Junco CORE Autosport FLM 1m15.688s
22. PC Lux/Julian/Zugel/Grogor Genoa FLM 1m16.069s
23. PC Bennett/Montecalvo/Dalziel CORE Autosport FLM 1m16.553s
24. P1 Burgess/McMurry/Willman Autocon Lola-AER 1m18.420s
25. GT Fisichella/Bruni/Kaffer AF Corse Ferrari 1m18.699s
26. GT Auberlen/Werner/Farfus BMW 1m18.786s
27. GT Muller/Hand/Priaulx BMW 1m19.219s
28. GT Melo/Vilander/Matos Risi Ferrari 1m19.247s
29. GT Bergmeister/Long/Pilet Flying Lizard Porsche 1m19.511s
30. GT Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher Extreme Speed Ferrari 1m19.519s
31. GT Ortelli/Makowiecki/Beltoise Luxury Ferrari 1m19.539s
32. GT Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook Corvette 1m19.586s
33. GT Beretta/Milner/Garcia Corvette 1m19.619s
34. GT Brown/Cosmo/Bell Extreme Speed Ferrari 1m19.705s
35. GT Firman/Jakubowski/Halliday Luxury Ferrari 1m20.294s
36. GTE-A Kauffman/Aguas/Bell AF Corse Ferrari 1m20.619s
37. GT Henzler/Sellers/Ragginger Falken Porsche 1m20.777s
38. GTE-A Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo Krohn Ferrari 1m20.880s
39. GTE-A Lietz/Ried Proton Porsche 1m20.897s
40. GT Junqueira/Wilden/James RSR Jaguar 1m20.996s
41. GT Neiman/Holzer/Law Flying Lizard Porsche 1m21.090s
42. GTE-A Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel Larbre Corvette 1m21.164s
43. GTE-A Ehret/Mullen/Wills CRS Ferrari 1m21.294s
44. GT Jones/Moran/Lewis RSR Jaguar 1m21.335s
45. GT Miller/Maassen/Collard Miller Porsche 1m21.577s
46. GT Rossiter/Mowlem/Hansson Jetalliance Lotus 1m22.560s
47. GTE-A Giroix/Kauffman/Wainwright Gulf Aston Martin 1m23.075s
48. GT Slingerland/Rich/Kasper Jetalliance Lotus 1m23.760s
49. PC Nicolosi/Boon/Lueders Performance Tech FLM 1m23.810s
50. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen Black Swan Porsche 1m24.543s
51. GTC Ende/Pumpelly/Ludwig TRG Porsche 1m24.596s
52. GTC von Moltke/Norman/Keating TRG Porsche 1m24.844s
53. GTC Sweedler/Wong/Keen Alex Job Porsche 1m24.861s
54. GTC Potter/Stanton/Eversley Magnus Porsche 1m25.206s

Autosport

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Peugeot's Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Alex Wurz win the Petit Le Mans

Peugeot claimed a third consecutive victory in the Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta.

The 908 turbodiesel LMP1 driven by Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Alex Wurz claimed victory in the 1000-mile event by five laps after both Audi R18 TDIs retired. The German manufacturer's challenge disappeared early in the eighth hour when Romain Dumas tangled with a Porsche GTC class car as he was mounting a push for the lead.

Montagny had been delayed by the Porsche in Turn 7, allowing Dumas to get a run on him out of the corner. As the Peugeot moved across to claim the racing line for the following left-hand kink, Dumas tagged the Porsche and crashed out of the race in the car he shared with Marcel Fassler and Timo Bernhard.

The result gives Peugeot the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup LMP1 manufacturers' title with one race left to run.

The previous-generation Peugeot 908 HDi entered by ORECA finished second after a trouble-free run in the hands of Nicolas Lapierre and on-loan factory drivers Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian. It finished one lap up on Stefan Mucke, Adrian Fernandez and Harold Primat in the Aston Martin Racing Lola coupe, which also enjoyed no problems on the way to third place.

The second Audi retired late in the race with steering problems. The car, shared by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello, had fallen down the order following two long stops for repairs after McNish was hit up the rear by a GT car.

The LMP2 class was won by the Level 5 Motorsports HPD driven by Christophe Bouchut, Joao Barbosa and team owner Scott Tucker. They battled with the Signatech ORECA-Nissan until the French car ran into power steering problems.

The AF Corse Ferrari 458 driven by Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer came back from a lap down to win the GT class. They lost the lap with a stop-go penalty after Fisichella ran a red light at the end of the pitlane, but the car quickly regained the lost ground before Bruni was able to get the better of Rahal BMW driver Joey Hand in his final stint.

Results - 394 laps:

Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. P1 Montagny/Sarrazin/Wurz Peugeot 9h34m23.972s
2. P1 Lapierre/Minassian/Gene ORECA Peugeot + 5 laps
3. P1 Fernandez/Primat/Mucke AMR Lola-Aston + 6 laps
4. P1 Pla/Premat/Yvon OAK Pescarolo-Judd + 10 laps
5. P1 Prost/Jani/Belicchi Rebellion Lola-Toyota + 13 laps
6. P2 Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa Level 5 HPD + 19 laps
7. P1 Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues OAK Pescarolo-Judd + 24 laps
8. PC Dobson/Richard/Lewis PR1 Mathiasen FLM + 26 laps
9. PC Ducote/Ducote/Marcelli Intersport FLM + 26 laps
10. GT Fisichella/Bruni/Kaffer AF Corse Ferrari + 27 laps
11. GT Bergmeister/Long/Pilet Flying Lizard Porsche + 27 laps
12. GT Auberlen/Werner/Farfus BMW + 27 laps
13. P2 Brown/Johansson/Patterson United OAK Pescarolo + 27 laps
14. GT Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook Corvette + 28 laps
15. GT Henzler/Sellers/Ragginger Falken Porsche + 29 laps
16. GT Sharp/van Overbeek/Farnbacher Extreme Speed Ferrari + 29 laps
17. P1 Dyson/Smith/Cochran Dyson Lola-Mazda + 31 laps
18. GT Firman/Jakubowski/Halliday Luxury Ferrari + 33 laps
19. GT Neiman/Holzer/Law Flying Lizard Porsche + 33 laps
20. GT Muller/Hand/Priaulx BMW + 35 laps
21. GT Brown/Cosmo/Bell Exteme Speed Ferrari + 37 laps
22. P2 Mailleux/Ordonez/Vernay Signatech ORECA-Nissan + 37 laps
23. GT Miller/Maassen/Collard Miller Porsche + 37 laps
24. GTE-A Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo Krohn Ferrari + 39 laps
25. GTE-A Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel Larbre Corvette + 41 laps
26. GT Robertson/Snow/Murry Robertson Doran Ford + 44 laps
27. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen Black Swan Porsche + 48 laps
28. GTC Sweedler/Wong/Keen Alex Job Porsche + 48 laps
29. GTC Ende/Pumpelly/Ludwig TRG Porsche + 49 laps
30. PC Jeannette/Gonzalez/Junco CORE Autosport FLM + 54 laps
31. GTE-A Kauffman/Aguas/Bell AF Corse Ferrari + 56 laps
32. P1 Burgess/McMurry/Willman Autocon Lola-AER + 58 laps
33. GTE-A Giroix/Kauffman/Wainwright Gulf Aston Martin + 62 laps
34. PC Lux/Julian/Zugel/Grogor Genoa FLM + 67 laps
35. PC Bennett/Montecalvo/Dalziel CORE Autosport FLM + 70 laps
36. P2 Nicolet/da Rocha/Lafargue OAK Pescarolo-Judd + 70 laps
37. GT Ortelli/Makowiecki/Beltoise Luxury Ferrari + 78 laps
38. P2 Tucker/Franchitti/Diaz Level 5 HPD + 80 laps
39. GTE-A Ehret/Mullen/Wills CRS Ferrari + 84 laps
40. P1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi + 92 laps
41. P1 Bernhard/Dumas/Fassler Audi + 98 laps
42. PC Nicolosi/Boon/Lueders Performance Tech FLM + 101 laps

Retired/not classified:

GTC von Moltke/Norman/Keating TRG Porsche 247 laps
GT Rossiter/Mowlem/Hansson Jetalliance Lotus 237 laps
GT Slingerland/Rich/Kasper Jetalliance Lotus 197 laps
GTE-A Lietz/Ried/Bullitt Proton Porsche 163 laps
GT Junqueira/Wilden/James RSR Jaguar 92 laps
P1 Bourdais/Pagenaud/Davidson Peugeot 78 laps
GT Beretta/Milner/Garcia Corvette 76 laps
P1 Luhr/Graf/Pickett Muscle Milk Lola-Aston 63 laps
P1 Al Masaood/Kane/Leitzinger Dyson Lola-Mazda 29 laps
GT Jones/Moran/Lewis RSR Jaguar 27 laps

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