Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin gave Peugeot its first American Le Mans Series victory on Saturday, winning a weather-shortened 12th annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6. Race officials, citing hazardous conditions due to torrential rains that fell at Road Atlanta just past the four-hour mark, called the race at eight hours, 44 minutes running.
Peugeot’s two diesel-powered factory prototype coupes finished 1-2 with the pole-sitting 908 HDi of Pedro Lamy and Nic Minassian in second. The first of Audi Sport Team Joest’s Audi R15 TDIs placed third, the car driven by Allan McNish and Dindo Capello. The Peugeot-Peugeot-Audi finish mirrored the end result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, and it ended Audi’s nine-year unbeaten streak at Road Atlanta.
“We only did three races this year,” Montagny said. “We missed Sebring by only 22 seconds, and it was a win for the Peugeot team at Le Mans and a win here. I think if we had a full time we really would have battled it out with the Audis.”
McNish and Capello dominated the race before the rains fell and led all but five of the first 168 laps. The two Peugeots got past McNish under yellow when the Scot looped the Audi under wet conditions barely past the two-hour mark. A few minutes later, the skies opened and officials parked the cars in pitlane.
“We started in the wet and it was difficult with a dry set-up,” Sarrazin said. “We were very far behind. But in the dry we could push very hard and make up time. I could catch the two Audis and it was not too hard to overtake them. But in the big rain it was just OK. We did our best in the time we had and the team did a great job.”
The highly anticipated battle between the Peugeots and the Audis lived up to expectations in qualifying and the early part of the race. Both Montagny and Sarrazin had to fight back from a lap down on more than one occasion after the Peugeots’ early race setup struggles.
It was sweet redemption for a team that lost out in last year’s race by a little more than four seconds to McNish and Capello in an Audi R10 TDI.
“We traveled thousands of miles to race here, so sure we’d love to have a full race but we also enjoyed it,” Montagny said. “Sure…at 300 kph, you hit the water and you just keep going…it’s not so much fun.”
“The mechanics here have won Le Mans, so they are very good and they know what they can do,” Sarrazin added. “We are improving all the time, in the race and in testing. I think we show that. And the drivers, we are always giving the maximum just like our crew does.”
Dyson Racing took its first Petit Le Mans victory with a victory in LMP2 for Marino Franchitti, Butch Leitzinger and Ben Devlin. Their Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupe had problems with gear selection early, but the Acura ARX-01b of Lowe’s Fernandez Racing’s Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz experienced steering issues throughout.
Nevertheless, the duo completed enough laps to clinch the team championship for Lowe’s Fernandez and the manufacturer championships for Acura.
“We had a gearbox issue just once and the guys were able to fix it with only one repair,” said Franchitti, who qualified on the class pole. “I think I saw every kind of condition possible here at Road Atlanta today. It was especially great to bring a win here with the Mazda especially for a race presented by the Mazda 6. And now the Dyson win for Petit is pretty great.”
Franchitti and Leitzinger were class winners at Lime Rock in July, the first victory for the Dyson-Lola/Mazda partnership. The team also won for the first time at Road Atlanta in American Le Mans Series competition.
“These guys made it easy for me and this had to be one of the toughest conditions I’ve ever raced in,” Devlin said. “Marino did a great job keeping the car up there and so did Butch. By the time I got the car I just had to keep it on the black. It was great how well the car has developed, especially how I left it last year and the continued commitment and effort from Mazda.”
