Peugeot broke Audi’s grip at Le Mans this year with the 908 HDI FAP driven by Marc Gene/Alexander Wurz/David Brabham. Both Peugeot and Audi were running diesel-engined cars.
Photos and captions by Hugues Vanhoolandt
French cars win the iconic French event; our man at Le Mans, Hugues Vanhoolandt, focuses on the winning Peugeot team.
# 7 was driven by Nicolas Minassian/Pedro Lamy/Christian Klien.
They finished 6th OA after being delayed by an incident with
the Peugeot # 17 in the pit lane during the first hour !
# 8 was driven by French drivers Sarrazin/Montagny/Bourdais.
Sarrazin took pole position.
This car was leading the race–and of course the Audis– before a technical failure that drop the car to second place one lap behind the winners.
# 9 was driven by Marc Gene/Alexander Wurz/David Brabham.
They won the race, completing 382 laps of the 13.629 km circuit.
Average speed 216.664 km/h. David Brabham is the youngest son of Sir Jack Brabham. The three drivers are all ex-F1 drivers
The 4th Peugeot 908 was entered by the Pescarolo team.
Driven by Boullion/Tréluyer/Pagenaud, their race finished in the
barriers during the night.
This is an Oreca, a French team building is own chassis.
At the wheel, former winner Stéphane Ortelli lost control and
ended in the tyre wall but rejoined the race. Co-driver Bruno
Senna (nephew of the late Ayrton) crashed the car definitely
during the night. The sister car (# 11) finished 5 th OA.
Pescarolo-Judd built by four time Le Mans winner Henri Pescarolo.
The 908 HDI FAP is the current Peugeot race car. This 908 HY is a concept of an hybrid racing car. It is not yet known if this car will be entered in competition and if yes, when. But it is surely the future of motor racing.
And some things never change—