Montagny, Sarrazin, Lamy take Road Atlanta victory

BRASELTON -- Peugeot won Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 on Saturday, this time running the full 1,000 miles. A year after the French manufacturer won a rain-shortened race at Road Atlanta, the trio of Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy scored a 61-second victory in their diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDi. They led a second straight 1-2 finish for the 908s in the cornerstone event for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.

The second Peugeot of Anthony Davidson, Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz placed second after winning the season-opening race at Sebring. The Sarrazin car pitted with 34 minutes left without losing the lead to its sister car. Sarrazin and Montagny were winners in last year's race.

"Last year we proved we were fastest, we didn't get to go to the end of the race but we really think and knew that we were fastest last year," said Montagny, who set the fastest race lap Saturday. "The results we got last year we didn't get to prove it. But this year, we had the same team, same car, and knew we could pull it out again."

The two Peugeots combined to lead 299 of the 394 laps. Audi Sport Team Joest's Audi R15 TDI finished third, two laps down. Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Dindo Capello teamed together, and the Audi suffered a late-race puncture that foiled any chances for victory.

There were nine caution periods but none over the last 106 laps. The battle wowed the record-breaking crowd of more than 124,000 race week fans.

"It's always a difficult race with the traffic," said Lamy, who said Saturday was his last race in the Peugeot. "We knew we had to be fast through it. We knew there'd be a lot of safety cars. So I'm really happy with it."

"The team did a great job, and we improved a lot in the strategy," Sarrazin said. "We did a lot of good times. It was a tough time with all the safety cars. We worked hard all week setting up the car. It was really good with such good balance. It was just perfect."

Peugeot also finished 1-2 for the second consecutive race in the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the global championship from the Automobile Club de l'Ouest. With one race remaining in China, Peugeot leads Audi by 14 points.

In LMP2, Patrón Highcroft Racing capped a second-straight championship season with a class victory for David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti. Brabham and Pagenaud won the LMP championship. Honda Performance Development won the class manufacturer championship.

"To win Petit Le Mans

http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/10/232729