Peugeot delivers one-two punch at Sebring, ending German domination of the historic 12-hour race.
They came, they raced; they conquered!
In addition to securing its third consecutive one-two finish; the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP is the first French car to win at Sebring since the race was first held in 1952. The #07 car driven by Alexander Wurz, Marc Gené and Anthony Davidson finished ahead of the #08 sister car of Sébastien Bourdais, Nicolas Minassian and Pedro Lamy. After starting the 12 Hours of Sebring from the front row of the grid, the two Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs were never separated by more than a handful of seconds, despite the heat, traffic, safety car appearances and incidents.
At the end of the day, all that split the two machines at the finish were a puncture, two spins and pit stops. After 12 hours of racing, it was finally the #07 Peugeot which took the checkered flag after 367 laps, closely followed by the sister car.
After the 2009 Le Mans and last autumn’s Petit Le Mans, Sebring is Peugeot’s third straight one-two finish. It is also the first win for a French car in the American classic and puts an end to 11 years of German domination of the race.
Alexander Wurz in the #07 car started on soft tires and succeeded in holding off the pressure from teammate Sébastien Bourdais in the sister car, which had chosen to start on medium compound tires. The Lola driven by Pirro managed to split the two Peugeots for a while, and this enabled the #08 Peugeot to gain an advantage as it took control and covered two stints on the same set of tires. The lead enjoyed by Bourdais / Lamy / Minassian was further extended when Anthony Davidson spun out shortly after the four-hour mark.
The ground lost was recovered at the halfway point, however, with pit stop timing causing the two cars to trade positions again. A further change in the order came when the #08 car emerged in front after a fuel stop. The drama continued on lap 262 when the leading car fell back a place after picking up a rear-left tire puncture. This put the #07 Peugeot back in front, and that’s how the race ended, with the result pretty much sealed when Sébastien Bourdais spun making a final bid in the last half-hour.
Great Britain’s Anthony Davidson shared the victory with his 2009 Le Mans winning teammates Alexander Wurz and Sebring rookie Marc Gené. The crew of the #08 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP crossed the line in its immediate wake to make it a historic one-two finish for Peugeot. Sébastien Bourdais set the fastest lap of the race.
Final 1-2-3 Positions:
1 – Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 07 (Davidson/Gené/Wurz), 367 laps in 12h 0m 54.362s
2 – Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 08 (Bourdais/Lamy/Minassian), + 13.817s
3 – Lola-Judd (Mucke/Primat/Fernandez), + 3 laps
For more information about the 12 Hours Of Sebring, please visit http://www.sebringraceway.com/