Peugeot takes third Le Mans Series win in Spa-Francorchamps

Like the last two rounds of the 2008 Le Mans Series, the 1,000km of Spa-Francorchamps turned out to be yet another fiercely-disputed, drama-filled race. The race, however, yet again saw Team Peugeot Total claim its third successive win from three starts.

It was the N°7 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP driven by Nicolas Minassian, Marc Gené and Jacques Villeneuve that took the chequered flag, with the team’s other car crashing out shortly after the two-hour mark.

The Belgian Ardennes were bathed in glorious summer sunshine throughout the weekend and an impressive crowd of 35,000 spectators turned out to watch the 42 starters begin the race behind the Safety Car following an off by a competitor during the formation lap.

When the cars were finally unleashed, Pedro Lamy got away cleanly in the N°8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP and started to pull clear of the field, putting five seconds between himself and the Audi R10 of McNish who had Nicolas Minassian pressurising him in the other 908 HDi FAP.

The race between McNish and Minassian began in earnest on Lap 21 and ended in the two cars coming together on Lap 35 when neither driver was prepared to give way and both were forced to take to the grass through Combes.

The last word went to Nicolas Minassian, however, which left the two Peugeots lapping in first and second places for the rest of their double-stint.

At the first driver changes on Lap 44, Villeneuve took over from Minassian, but the N°8 car unfortunately dropped 35 seconds in the pits when the engine was accidentally switched off whilst Wurz was on board. The Austrian, however, re-joined the race in third place behind Capello’s Audi and began to push hard to make up the gap which he closed on Lap 56.

As Wurz came up to pass a Spyker, however, the two cars touched and the Austrian crashed hard into the tyre wall, taking with him Capello’s Audi who was, however, able to re-join, albeit with a damaged car. "It all happened so quickly," explained Alexander Wurz. "I was pulling back in front of the Spyker when the rear right of my car hit it, and that sent me into a spin. I couldn’t avoid hitting the Audi and I would like to apologise for that, just as I would like to say sorry to everyone at Peugeot whose excellent work had given us such a fantastic car."

Jacques Villeneuve then handed over the No 7 car to Marc Gené who went on to post the fastest race lap before the Spaniard handed the car back over to Nicolas Minassian. For the rest of the race the three drivers took it in turns to head the field without suffering the slightest technical or strategic problem.

With this win Minassian and Gené now top the Drivers’ standings due to their two race wins.

Jacques VILLENEUVE: "I thoroughly enjoyed the race. We had a good fight and the three of us did a good job together. This weekend has been excellent preparation for the Le Mans 24 Hours and it was also very nice to win a race again. My last victory was back at the 1997 Luxemburg Grand Prix!"

Nicolas MINASSIAN: "I suffered quite badly with oversteer during my first stint but everything returned to normal once new tyres were fitted and I had a great scrap with McNish. I left my braking as late as possible, and he braked even later, and we both ended up crossing the grass. It was close, but perfectly fair and square! I spent the rest of the race enjoying the afternoon with my two team-mates."


Marc GENE: "‘Nico’ did most of the work. It’s a good result in championship terms and I’m delighted that the team brought in Jacques for this race to help us prepare for Le Mans."

Michel BARGE: "Peugeot has maintained its unbeaten run in the Le Mans Series and we are pleased that we chose to use Spa to prepare for Le Mans by entering the three-drivers for both cars.

This doesn’t necessarily mean we are perfectly ready for Le Mans; we still have a great deal of work to do, especially following the accident of the N°8 car. Unfortunately, that’s racing. Mixing cars of differing performance levels is one of the interesting aspects of this type of racing, but it’s also its biggest difficulty."

Bruno FAMIN: "We didn’t have any technical problems whatsoever. The engine was accidentally switched off during the driver change on the N°8 car. The N°8 car’s crash has obviously made life more complicated for us, but it isn’t the first challenge we have had to rise to!"

The next challenge for Team Peugeot Total is the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. Click on this link for a vidcast interview with Nicholas Minassian as he prepares for this legendary race.