Five out of Five – Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Wins Silverstone 1000 km

Peugeot claimed its fifth successive win at Sunday’s Silverstone 1,000 km race and the second win for the No 7 car driven by Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian.

On Saturday Nicolas Minassian secured the fifth consecutive LMS pole for the No 7 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, beating again the No 8 sister car driven by Pedro Lamy.

Marc Gene in the No 7 car led the No 8 car driven by Stéphane Sarrazin away from the line until the 12th lap when the safety car was sent out, due to advertising hoardings being blown onto the track by strong winds. The safety car then remained on track for a further six laps before the race started again.

On lap 112, Pedro Lamy was forced to pit after picking up a rear-left puncture which dropped the car into fifth place. After the No 8 car’s forced pit stop, Stéphane Sarrazin took over and rejoined the race in fourth place and then immediately started to fight to get the car back up to second place. On lap 133 the safety car came out again for another five laps.

Then with only 28 laps remaining, Pedro Lamy took over the No 8 car to continue the fight back. Lapping between three and four seconds faster than the Charouz Racing Lola and Emmanuel Collard’s Pescarolo, the Portuguese driver homed in on the two cars, drawing level with them with 13 laps remaining before passing them in quick succession shortly afterwards. But there was more drama to come when the stewards called Pedro into the pits to replace his car’s rear wing which had suffered damage as a result of his earlier puncture. Unfortunately, with just three laps to go, the mechanics didn’t have sufficient time to complete the work and the car was forced to retire.

Nicolas Minassian: “It’s been a fantastic weekend for us and we followed up our performance in qualifying with victory today. It turned out to be a trouble-free run for Marc and me and we were able to lift towards the end to control our cushion from in front. Today’s result is proof of all the work the team has accomplished since Spa to make the car reliable.”

Marc Gene: “Anything can happen in motor racing and that’s what makes it so exciting. Our car was easy to drive today and our Michelin tyres were consistent and didn’t go off at all. I had a bit of a scare during the formation lap when I went off onto the grass and nearly spun. I’m now looking forward to Brazil and the last race of the season which I would love to win with Nicolas.”

Michel Barge, Director of Peugeot Sport: “The European phase of the 2007 LMS campaign has been extremely positive for Peugeot with a score of five wins from five races. The title still isn’t in the bag and I can confirm that we will have both cars in Brazil for the final round of the Le Mans Series. My only regret this weekend is that our second car wasn’t stopped earlier. Stéphane and Pedro took risks for nothing as they carved their way brilliantly back up the field.”

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