Just three weeks after the opening round at Silverstone, and a month before its visit to Zhuhai, China, Peugeot succeeded in claiming another one-two finish at one of the calendar's most complex races, if only because of the venue's usual problem of traffic. But Peugeot survived the combination of 44 cars on the track and the nine safety car interruptions with flying colours, even though the fight at the sharp end was as close as they come from the word go.
"For the moment, we aren't taking any risks," reported Alexander Wurz shortly before the halfway point. "There's a car to overtake every 100 metres! We need to be on our toes all the time." However, the combination of the French team's perfect strategy and the fact that its drivers didn't make a single mistake allowed Peugeot Sport to come through the final phase unscathed to score an emphatic one-two finish.
At the wheel of the N°07 Peugeot that his team-mate Anthony Davidson had qualified on pole the previous day, Marc Gené got away cleanly in bright sunshine and in front of a big crowd. In his wake, Franck Montagny (N°08 Peugeot) and Allan McNish (N°7 Audi) immediately engaged in a thrilling fight which even saw the two cars touch at one stage. A superb passing manoeuvre enabled Montagny to take control ahead of the best-placed Audi on Lap 11, and a long period ensued that saw the N°08 Peugeot and the N°7 Audi trade the lead several times as a function of their respective strategies and the frequent safety car appearances. With a field of 44 starters for this year's race, there were a high number of offs and collisions, which meant that picking a way through the traffic was particularly hard for the front-runners.
The situation tipped in favour of Peugeot shortly before the race's seventh hour when the N°7 Audi was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. That allowed the two Team Peugeot Total 908 HDi FAPs to control from in front to the flag, with the N°08 car finishing in front of the N°07 machine.
STORY BY PEUGEOT
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