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Peugeot Puts Rest of LMP1 Class Behind The '08-Ball'

Brian Gjurgevich, Highlands Today

The Acura No. 2 car, piloted by Allan McNish, takes advantage of some umbrella shade during the morning combined practice on Wednesday at Sebring International Raceway. McNish's 1 minute, 45.810-second lap was third fastest among the morning times.

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BRIAN GJURGEVICH On Track

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2009

Updated:

SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY - After two full sessions of official practice time, Peugeot appears to be the team to beat in LMP1.

The No. 08 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP breezed to the fastest laps in both open practice sessions on Wednesday, sending a signal to the rest of the class that the most broken-in cars in the P1 class may very well be the favorites.

Stephane Sarrazin piloted the No. 08 to a 1 minute, 45.159-second lap in the opening session, more than a half-second ahead of Lucas Luhr and the No. 1 Audi R15 TDI. In the second session, times were down across the board, but again Peugeot was tops with a 1:44.719 lap, just ahead of Audi No. 2's Rinaldo Capello, who got around in 1:44.933.

In fact, Audi was 2-3 in both sessions, as the new R15 looks to continue the "out-of-the-box" dominance Audi showed with the R8 and R10.

But only one car, the No. 08, broke the 127 mph plateau, traveling 127.198 mph in the second session.

The No. 16 Mazda Lola B09 86 was tops among P2 cars in both sessions, as Chris Dyson piloted the brand new machine to a 1:50.772 lap in the opening session and a 1:50.802 lap in the second.

In GT2, the No. 95 Advanced Engineering Pecom Ferrari 430 GT was quickest in the opening session at 2:02.897, while Wolf Henzler piloted the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to the top GT2 time in the second session at 2:02.591.

In GT1, Jan Magnussen drove the No. 3 Corvette C6-R to a 1:57.913 in the opening session and a 1:56.907 lap in the afternoon.

Kissimmee Resident Tops First Qualifying Session

Jonathan Summerton was a late addition to the entry list for Sebring, but the Kissimmee resident and Genoa Racing driver was the quickest out of the pits during the first qualifying session of the week.

Summerton piloted his No. 19 Mazda to a top qualifying lap of 1:53.571 during Qualifying No. 1 of the Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.

The second-year racer, 20, secured himself a front-row spot for Friday's race, which kicks off at 2 p.m. A second Cooper-Atlantic qualifying session will be held at 12:50 p.m. today.

Kaffer Prefers Challenge Of U.S. Tracks

Former overall champion Pierre Kaffer may be in a different class this year, but the Salenstein, Switzerland native is happy to be running the same old track as he looks to lead the No. 62 Risi Competizone to a podium finish in the ultra-competitive GT2 class.

Sebring, he says, may be tricky, but any driver worth their fire-suit will tell you they'd rather race here than nearly anywhere else.

"I love this track and I love US tracks because they are quite different from European tracks," Kaffer said between practice sessions on Tuesday. "You have proper bumps here and proper walls.

"When you go to Europe, we always have big parking places in the corner, so it makes it quite easier to get the car right. Here, it's quite difficult to make a set-up and adapt everything together.

"It's a true challenge."

Kaffer, who won overall with Audi in 2004 alongside Allan McNish and Frank Biela in an Audi R8, said no leader can ever feel comfortable at SIR.

"You're never safe with a lead," he said. "You may have a full-course yellow, and on the next (lap), you have to react in the right way, otherwise you go out of the pits and you're 10th."

Brian Gjurgevich can be reached at 863-386-5841 or bgjurgevich@highlandstoday.com. Read his "On Track" race blog all week at highlandstoday.com.

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