American Le Mans Series

Peugeot chased from pole-position by the regulations

© American Le Mans Series

Despite posting the fastest time of today’s qualifying session on his only flying lap with the single 908 HDi FAP entered for the 12 Hours of Sebring, Stéphane Sarrazin was deprived of pole-position following an accident which saw the application of an ALMS regulation that worked against Team Peugeot Total.

Stéphane Sarrazin had been in a confident mood at the beginning of the session and went out just minutes after the start in his bid to start Saturday’s race from pole. His first flying lap saw him bag a time of 1m 43.117s which effectively toppled his Audi rivals Alan McNish and Lucas Luhr – who had lapped in 1m 43.765s and 1m 44.291s respectively – from the top of the timesheet.
The Peugeot driver’s momentum was then interrupted in the course of his second flying lap following a big crash involving the N°8 Mazda. The incident prompted the red flag to come out and the session was halted after just nine minutes. However, the ALMS rules state that an extra minute would have been necessary for the times posted during the session to count.

In keeping with the American regulations, Saturday’s start order will consequently be based on the fastest time set by each car during the three free practice sessions. The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP will therefore start the race from second on the grid thanks to the 1m 44.271s lap recorded by Stéphane Sarrazin during Thursday morning’s session.

Michel BARGE (Peugeot Sport Director): “Despite the way the afternoon ended, I am very proud of the work accomplished by everyone in the team. We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that Stéphane posted the fastest time on his one and only lap, whereas our main rivals had already completed three laps!”

Stéphane SARRAZIN: “The car was nicely balanced for my first flying lap but I had been saving myself a little bit for my second lap. Despite the interruption, I was very pleased to have posted the pole-winning time by a margin of more than six tenths ahead of McNish’s Audi. Although this is only its first attempt at this race, the team did a first class job and made sure we had a very competitive 908 today. I am obviously disappointed by the way things turned out; it’s frustrating to have lost pole-position in this way, but rules are rules.”

Serge SAULNIER: “It is an uncustomary regulation but we fully respect it. We will need to keep on our toes throughout the race to make sure we stay in control of every tiny detail. There is nothing we could have done to come out of today’s situation any better, and our intention now is to focus on Saturday’s race. Nicolas Minassian will line up for the start and we haven’t lost sight of the fact that our objective here is to prepare for the Le Mans 24 Hours.”

(Peugeot Media)