ILMC

Peugeot Sport Total dominates at Imola

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Peugeot Sport Total took a one-two victory in the 6 Hours of Imola this afternoon. The French manufacturer dominated the fourth round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the third round of the Le Mans Series on the Italian circuit and anything other than a win would have been a defeat.

After a mistake on the grid, which saw the entire field mirrored on the start grid, Sebastien Bourdais started the race from pole position and he was still leading when the cars went into Tamburello for the first time. Marcel Fässler managed to stay close to Bourdais for most of the opening hour, but just before the end of the first hour Montagny passed the Audi R18 TDI at the Variante Villeneuve and Peugeot was first and second. In LMP2 Jody Firth had a cracking first stint and at 1 pm the TDS Racing Oreca 03 Nissan was already half a minute clear of its rivals. BMW was leading the GTE Pro category with its nr 55 M3 GT2.

Into the second hour the the Peugeots stayed on the pace with the Audi’s clearly not able to follow them around the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The gap between the French and German teams increased after every lap. In GTE Pro the BMW Motorsport cars seemed to have an easy day as well and had created a 30 second lead over the AF Corse Ferrari that was chasing them, but that was until problems arose in the #56, described by the team as a ‘small technical issue’. After two hours the AF Corse car was beginning to close in, just like Davidson closed in on his team mate in the leading Peugeot 908.

Davidson kept lapping quicker than Sarrazin and by lap 82 the two Peugeots were close to each other, with Timo Bernhard in the Audi now half a minute behind. Lamy’s BMW saw the Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella closing in rapidly. After the pit stops from the leaders Davidson emerged one second ahead of Sarrazin and soon after Davidson managed to put a lap on Kristensen. Kristensen would have none of it though and put his Audi next to the Peugeot and there was contact going through Tamburello. Halfway the race the Peugeots were still dominating.

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The gap between the two Peugeots was 20 seconds onto lap 11 and into the fourth hour. Ferrari took the lead in GTE Pro when the nr 55 pitted for full service, a couple of minutes later the nr 56 BMW got out of Rivazza very slow and pulled into the pit immediately. Rob Bell (JMW Ferrari) and Nicolas Prost (Rebellion Lola) made detours via the gravel trap at different parts of the track.
There were some other minor spins and teams catching each other and just before the end of the fourth hour the nr 51 Ferrari pitted, which allowed the sister car to move up into second and the nr 56 BMW back into the top three for the moment.

In LMP2 the TDS Racing Oreca 03 Nissan that had been in a commanding lead pitted with Pierre Thiriet pitted from the lead, but a starter motor problem prevented the car from firing up again and it went back into the box. Valuable time was lost and as a result a big lead went to waste and the Level 5 Motorsports Lola inherited the class lead. With the car stuck in the box it soon dropped further down the order. Down the field the LM GTE Am battle heated up with Nicolas Armindo chasing down Gianluca Roda and taking seconds off the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche’s lead each lap. As the BMW nr 56 came in again it was pushed back into the box, allowing the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche to move up into fourth in class. The sister car made its stop not much later, which allowed the two AF Corse Ferrari’s to move into first and second again. Melo now leading ahead of Bruni. An early pit stop for the nr 7 Peugeot due to a puncture allowed the nr 8 to take the lead again. After five hours it was still a Peugeot 1-2.

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Into the last hour and it was Montagny who had to come in as well with a puncture. The nr 55 BMW M3 GT2 was also called in again for a stop and go penalty for a pitlane infringement, which meant the nr 71 AF Corse Ferrari lost some of the pressure. Melo pitted as the BMW took its penalty. Collard had a scary moment when one of the brakes overheated and gave in, the repairs meaning the Pescarolo had to be wheeled into the box. Christophe Bouchut meanwhile ended up in a battle with the Strakka Racing HPD ARX-01d – not for position – and briefly made contact. After stretching out his lead over the Greaves Motorsport to over 16 seconds the Frenchman came in to the pit unexpectedly and the engine cover went off, the team investigating a gearbox selector problem. Meanwhile in GTE Am Pat Long, who took over from Gianluca Roda, started chasing down Nicolas Armindo, who had taken the lead in the class. Twenty minutes before the end of the race Bourdais put in the fastest lap of the race and returned 18 seconds ahead of his team mate. Behind him several battles were still to be fought. Pat Long closed the gap to Raymond Narac, who had by then taken over from Armindo, but just before the end of the race he had to pit and that was game over for the GTE Am battle.

After 220 laps Bourdais crossed the line to win the 6 Hours of Imola for Peugeot Sport Total, Montagny taking second and Timo Bernhard taking third for Audi Sport Team Joest.

Greaves Motorsport won LMP2, AF Corse took a one-two in GTE Pro, IMSA Performance Matmut won GTE Am. In FLM it was the nr 99 JMB Racing FLM of Kyle Marcelli, Chapman Ducote and Nicolas Marroc that won, in a car that was initially not on the entry list (only as a conditional entry) and with drivers that were set to race the Guess Racing Europ Lola.

The next round of the Le Mans Series and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup will take place at Silverstone in September.