PEUGEOT 908 HDi FAP WINS INTERLAGOS 1000 MILHAS AND 2007 LE MANS SERIES TITLE

Second place for the No 8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Pedro Lamy and Stéphane Sarrazin in this weekend’s 1000 Milhas Brazil at Interlagos, Sao Paulo, was sufficient to wrap up the 2007 Le Mans Series title for Peugeot Total. The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian took victory in the 1000 Milhas to hand Peugeot Total its second one-two result of the year to round off the 2007 season in style.

With Pedro Lamy and Stéphane Sarrazin the only drivers in a position to take the LMS championship for Peugeot Total, Stéphane secured pole position by just two tenths of a second from the No 7 car driven by Marc Gene.

The race which started at noon on Saturday was, however, not without incident. The No 8 pole position car, driven by Pedro Lamy, was forced to start from the back of the grid due to problems with the clutch on the formation lap. An outstanding drive nonetheless saw Pedro fight his way back to second by his first refuelling stop on Lap 37.

The No 8 car was then called into the pits by the stewards on Lap 198 when the right-hand rear light was seen to be flashing on and off. Three laps were lost, but the car managed to re-join in second place.

Then, on lap 326, Pedro Lamy picked up a slow right-hand front puncture and stopped to change all four tyres.

On Lap 338, the team chose to call the car back into the pits to inspect the front suspension after observing sparks coming from the front right-hand corner, although nothing serious was found.

The No 7 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian enjoyed a near perfect race after leading from the start and came through all the potential pitfalls of the race which proved particularly punishing for the drivers and cars alike. The nature of the Interlagos track and the abrasive and bumpy surface saw many competitors experiencing punctures and suspension failures.

In the end, after 374 laps and more than 1,600 km of racing, the two Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs took the chequered flag side by side in the dark to claim the team’s second one-two finish of the year after monopolising the top two places at the Nurburgring.