Just a few weeks ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Peugeot recorded an encouraging one-two at Spa-Francorchamps, after an enthralling 6-hour race. Alexander Wurz, Anthony Davidson and Marc Gené clinched the win in the no.7 car ahead of car no.8 drivers, Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin and Nicolas Minassian, who had started back in 48th position on the grid. Team Peugeot Total thus took another giant step forward in its preparation for Le Mans.
With 34 600 spectators watching Saturday’s race at Spa-Francorchamps, the Peugeot 908s lined up well down the starting grid, but as soon as the race got underway, all three Team Peugeot Total cars showed they were not content to sit back. From 12th place, Alexander Wurz, in the Peugeot no.7, moved up to 3rd at the end of the first lap! Meanwhile, Sébastien Bourdais moved up to 4th spot in car no.9 and Franck Montagny, who started in 48th position, overtook an incredible 38 cars in one lap!
Alexander Wurz was flying as he grabbed second spot thirty minutes into the race. The Austrian then closed right up on the tail of race leader Lotterer and managed to get past him just before the first refuelling pit stop after a superb overtaking manoeuvre in traffic.
Things were going as well for his team-mates with Sébastien Bourdais, who handed over the no.9 Peugeot 908 to Pedro Lamy with the car in 4th position Meanwhile, Franck Montagny was lapping in a superb 5th place as he handed over to Stéphane Sarrazin.
The race gradually took shape and the consistency of the Peugeots enabled the three 908s to hold the top three positions after 2.5 hours of racing, showing their competitiveness. Anthony Davidson, Pedro Lamy and Stéphane Sarrazin maintained an unrelentingly high tempo, thus widening the gap to their rivals.
The Peugeot 908 no.7 held onto first place until the next round of refuelling pit stops. Marc Gené, and then Alexander Wurz again, just kept on pushing right to the end of the six hours of racing, without experiencing any issues.
Behind them, the scrap for the remaining podium places was intense. Pedro Lamy was the only driver to complete three stints. The Portuguese driver made a costly error at the end of his stint, allowing the Peugeot no.8 to take second place. Simon Pagenaud took over from Lamy but had to come into the pits 30 minutes from the end to change the front right half-axle. The driver team of Bourdais-Lamy-Pagenaud finished eighth, but also claimed the fastest race lap.
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