Peugeot wins first race of 2008 LMS series

Peugeot wins first race of 2008 LMS Series

The 908 HDi FAP won the first round of the LMS in Barcelona

Peugeot raced to victory in the prestigious 2007 Le Mans Series (LMS)… and are on course to lift the cup again in 2008!

Peugeot Sport won the first race of this year’s LMS Series in Barcelona on April 6. Powered by its Peugeot 5.5-litre V12 HDi diesel engines, the winning No7 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP – driven by Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene – left second place Audi trailing by more than a lap. They also saw off competition from Porsche and Aston Martin.

Meanwhile the No8, driven by Pedro Lamy and Stéphane Sarrazin, led the field from the lights. But a coming together with another car saw it drop down the leader board, before posting the fastest race lap and finishing 12th.

The 908 HDi FAP kicks out no less than 700bhp – the power of more than 10 Peugeot 207 1.4 HDis.

Michel Barge, Director of Peugeot Sport, says: ‘This is a superb win on several accounts. First of all, it’s a great result for Marc Gené who does so much for Catalonian motor sport and for Nicolas Minassian who put in a great run.'

'At the same time, we were joined here by Audi and that gave us a chance to confirm the 908 HDi FAP’s competitiveness. I believe we are on the right track to be able to put a strong performance over the coming races, especially with our good level of reliability.’

The race at Catalunya was the first in the 2008 LMS Series. The next will take place on 25-27 April in Monza, Italy. The series culminates at Silverstone in September.

Peugeot’s roster of drivers for the 2008 LMS also includes Jacques Villeneuve, Ricardo Zonta and Alexander Wurz.

Another highlight in the racing calendar is the enduring Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Held on June 14-15, Peugeot narrowly missed out on first place last year. This year, they intend to go one better…

BARCELONA RESULTS
1 Gené/Minassian (Peugeot) 215 laps in 5h 59m 30.812s
2 Prémat/Rockenfeller (Audi R10 TDI) - 1 laps
3 Mücke/Charouz (Lola-Aston Martin) - 3 laps
4 Boullion/Collard (Pescarolo-Judd) - 5 laps
5 Capello/McNish (Audi R10 TDI) - 6 laps
6 van Merksteijn/Verstappen (Porsche) - 7 laps
7 Primat/Tinseau (Pescarolo-Judd) - 7 laps
8 Pompidou/Belicchi/Zacchia (Lola-Judd) - 8 laps
9 Elgaard/Nielsen (Porsche) - 11 laps
10 Barbosa/Ickx/Short (Pescarolo-Judd) - 11 laps

Back to news homepage