Peugeot front row at Zhuhai

 

Front row for Peugeot.

The final outing of the 908 HDi looks very promising with the two fastest times set during their successful qualifying session this Saturday in front of the Audi driven by Tom Kristensen. In GT1, the fastest time was made by the Japanese Sekiguchi driving a Lamborghini.

The 1,000 km of Zhuhai, which will start tomorrow, Sunday, 7th November at noon local time (5:00 in France/4:00 in UK). The Chinese public will see only blue at the front of the grid. For their final race in the 908, Peugeot's drivers set the bar high early in the qualifying session held this Saturday, despite the difficult track condition following heavy rain that has been falling since Thursday.

The prize for this effort was for Stéphane Sarrazin to snatch pole position (1'21''868) in car #2 - on intermediate tyres. ". We feared the arrival of rain,", explained the French driver at a press conference, “we drove quickly from the start of the session. There was a very short window. I pushed hard straight away, I did a good lap with no mistakes. It was not so easy with the damp, I stayed on the good line and it was a very fast lap.". Simon Pagenaud, who did the second fastest lap had chosen the same Michelin tyres as his team-mate and was equally pleased to be in front of Audi. Like all whole French team, the drivers know how important it is to win in China, which now constitutes the largest global automotive market.

Shortly before this qualifying session, Olivier Quesnel recalled the major economic challenge posed by the coming of the ILMC to China. "Every time we run, we're trying to win," explained the boss of Team Peugeot Total, “and especially in China because Peugeot has high ambitions in this market. So first win the race. This will be perfect for the championship and whatever happens, there will be a great fight. "

With 37 points ahead in the standings (*) now unless there is no Peugeot at the finish and Audi score a 1-2. the French team will capture the first title for ILMC manufacturers in the LM P1 class. The task will be difficult for the German automaker Audi, but they intend to win on Chinese soil, where the brand currently sells the majority of its production cars.

However, its drivers had to settle for third and fourth places (for 1'23''152 7; 1'24''589 for 8). The fastest of his team, Tom Kristensen even made a small off-track excursion at three minutes from the end of the session destroying all chances. "During all practice sessions,'' 'Mr. Le Mans' explained, '' they (Peugeot) were quicker than us. So it had to be a very aggressive hunt for pole position at the wheel as in set-up. After my lap on intermediate tyres as the track dried, I returned to the pits to fit slicks. But it was still raining a little and you had to be very careful especially when braking at Turn 11. And finally, I made a mistake in turning 9 when the rain came. "

In the prototype category, the fifth fastest time was achieved by the Lola-Judd # 11 Drayson Racing (1'28''916) shared Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker.

The GTs did not lag behind in qualifying either, five manufacturers successively occupied the top of the table: Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Audi, but it is ultimately the Lamborghini Murcielago GT1 Japanese Yuhi Sekiguchi with the fastest time (1'33''516). Just behind the Porsche 997 GT3 R Hybrid (1'33''789) that took second place. The third was occupied by the amazing Alex Yoong in 1'34''959. The former F1 driver placed his Audi R8 GTC ahead of all the cars in the category. In the context of the battle for race victory or the manufacturers' title in GT, only nine points separate Ferrari and Porsche. The 1 000 km of Zhuhai will finish the 2010 season in in great style.

*. _With Successful pole position today, Peugeot has gained an extra point.