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Peugeot: We are our own enemies

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By EARL FANNIN

Special to Highlands Today

Published: March 19, 2010

SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY - With Audi absent, the powerful Peugeot 908 HDi FAP diesel-powered prototypes appear to be unbeatable in Saturday's 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida.

The atmosphere in the impressive Peugeot paddock structure conveys a hushed tone of deserved confidence.

"There is nobody who can come to our pace and really give us a run for our money," Sebastien Bourdais says matter-of-factly. "Aston Martin is running around with its Le Mans package (setup), so they have no downforce. They are bloody quick in the straights but that doesn't make the car fast around here. They cannot stay with us in the turns. The Intersport car looked pretty quick, and it would have been a bit of a challenge, but the car took off and it is wreckage now so they are not going to enter the race (the No. 37 Intersport Lola crashed in testing Monday and withdrew from the race)."

But Bourdais admits there is a possible kink in Peugeot's expected 1-2 finish.

"We are our own enemies," Bourdais says. "In terms in pace, we should be comfortable enough. We are the quickest two cars for sure. We are our own enemies. If we make the mistake, we could lose."

Neither Bourdais nor his teammates ever think in terms of anything but winning. After finishing second overall in the 2009 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours, Bourdais is now teamed with Pedro Lamy of Portugal and Frenchman Nicolas Minassian in the No. 08 Peugeot HDi FAP, which has been quickest around Sebring International Raceway's rough and tough 3.7-mile road course all week.

Bourdais was quickest Thursday morning at 1:45.840 and Minassian improved the best lap to 1:45.731 in the afternoon. It was quite an accomplishment as the Peugeot crew had to rebuild the No. 08 after discovering a small crack in the monocoque during a routine inspection Tuesday night.

The No. 07 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP will be driven by Marc Gene, Alexander Wurz and Anthony Davidson. Wurz was second quickest in practice Thursday at 1:46.539.

"It would really be cool to win Sebring," Bourdais says. "Other than 2006, I have always been hampered by 'things' here, broken parts that took me out of the win."

In 2006, Bourdais was in the middle of the best years of his career. From 2004-2007, he won a record four straight Champ Car World Series titles for Newman Haas Racing. In 2006, he captured a GT2 class victory at Sebring, co-driving a Panoz Esperante GTLM with David Brabham and Scott Maxwell.

"The 2006 race was a completely different deal," Bourdais says. "The only thing you can do when you are in GT2 is to win your class, and that can be a difficult thing. We lost the diffuser and we were losing the bolts to the main drive. We did not know what was wrong with the car; we just worried if it would last to the finish. It was not my regular program, but it was really, really neat to win with David and Scott. There was a late yellow, but we were able to resist the pressure. We felt like we were running on three legs at the end, so we were really relieved at the finish line."

Bourdais says driving the GT2 was more like "dancing instead of driving. And with the bumps, you moved around even more. It was a good car but it was very particular."

Driving the Peugeot is pure pleasure, Bourdais says. "The Peugeot is very fun to drive. It is powerful and has great grip. There is very little difference between our two cars. We still have some reliability issues. You are never completely safe."

Bourdais is a native of Le Mans, France, yes the home of the famous 24-hour race. He still maintains the home in St. Petersburg where he lived during his Champ Car championship run, but doesn't get to spend much time there. "When we arrived for testing, I went over and checked on the house," he says. "It was the first time I've been there in two years."

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