Pagenaud and Bourdais win at Silverstone
The merciless duel raging between Peugeot and Audi since the beginning of the season continued at Silverstone. Right from the start of the fifth round of the ILMC, Allan McNish set the tone with his incessant attacks on the pole-sitting Peugeot of Bourdais/Pagenaud. It was a scintillating start to the race and the Scot found the opening after a 50-minute scrap, shortly before Franck Montagny in the second 908 went off after tagging a backmarker during an overtaking maneuver.
This left the no. 1 Audi and the no. 7 Peugeot to battle it out at the head of the field, and no matter which of the drivers was in the car the hand-to-hand fight never let up. Behind, the same type of scrap was going on between the OAK Racing and Rebellion Racing drivers for third place. The fact that the no. 1 Audi was forced to stop for repairs with 1h 45m to go to the flag (bonnet change among others) decided the outcome of the race. The Bourdais/Pagenaud Peugeot crossed the finishing line giving Sochaux its fourth win of the season (the third for the works team) enabling the French firm to tighten its stranglehold on the ILMC Manufacturers’ Championship. “I’m very happy," said a delighted Bourdais who scored his second win on the trot. “We really had to fight for this victory. We didn’t make any mistakes and our rivals did.“ Bruno Famin, the French team’s technical director did his sums: “Our aim is achieved as we wanted to hold on to our place in the championship and score two more points than Audi. It’s a great team result and a reward for all the Peugeot Sport personnel."
Audi whose two cars finished in second and seventh places is not beaten yet, but the German team must turn the tables in the Petit Le Mans on 1st October to still have a chance of winning the title. OAK Racing scored a stunning result with the quickest of its OAK Pescarolo-Judds, which finished on the podium in third place after overcoming the first of the two Rebellion Racing Lola–Toyotas.
In LM GTE Pro, Ferrari also made a big step towards winning the 2011 ILMC Manufacturers’ title thanks to Fisichella/Bruni’s second victory of the year in their F458 Italia in front of another Ferrari Italia entered by Luxury Racing and driven by Ortelli/Mackowiecki. This is the third success of the season for the works Ferraris entered by AF Corse. The BMWs were very quick in practice, but they failed to make a big impact in the race and like Audi must fight back in the next round. 20 points separate the two manufacturers at the top of the GTE Pro classification.
In LM P2, victory went to the Ojjeh-Lombard-Kimber-Smith Zytek-Nissan, their third on the trot this year after the Le Mans 24 Hours and Imola. The winner in the ILMC category was the Yvon/Da Rocha/Lafargue OAK Pescarolo which rounded off the French team’s fantastic weekend. This puts off the consecration of the Signatech-Nissan until at least the Petit Le Mans.
It will be the same thing for Larbre Competition. The Bornhauser/Gardel/Canal Corvette saw the flag in third place in LM GTE Am. The ILMC win went to the Roda/Long Porsche while in the Le Mans Series classification the unbeatable pairing of Narac/Armindo scored another success in their Porsche 911 RSR 997.
Results
P. No.Team Drivers Car Cl. Tires Laps
1 7 Peugeot Sport Total Pagenaud/Bourdais Peugeot 908 LM P1 M 190
2 1 Audi Sport Team Joest Fässler/Bernhard Audi R18 TDI LM P1 M 190
3 24 Oak Racing Nicolet/Premat/Pla Oak Pescarolo – Judd LM P1 D 185
4 13 Rebellion Racing Belicchi/Boullion Lola B10/60 – Toyota LM P1 M 185
5 15 Oak Racing Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues Oak Pescarolo – Judd LM P1 D 185
6 16 Pescarolo Team Collard/Tinseau/Jousse Pescarolo – Judd LM P1 M 185
7 2 Audi Sport Team Joest McNish/Kristensen Audi R18 TDI LM P1 M 184
8 8 Peugeot Sport Total Sarrazin/Montagny Peugeot 908 LM P1 M 181
9 007 Aston Martin Fernandez/Primat/Klien Lola Aston Martin LM P1 M 179
10 41 Greaves Motorsp. Ojjeh/Lombard/Kimber-Smith Zytek Nissan LM P2 D 178
11 40 Race Performance Frey/Meichtry/Rostan Oreca 03 – Judd LM P2 D 177
12 45 Boutsen Energy Racing Kraihamer/Ebbesvik Oreca – Nissan LM P2 D 176
13 36 RML Erdos/Newton/Collins HPD ARX – 01d LM P2 M 176
14 43 RLR Msport Gates/Garofall/Hughes MG Lola EX265 – Judd LM P2 D 171
15 35 Oak Racing Yvon/Da Rocha/Lafargue Oak Pescarolo – Judd LM P2 D 171
16 26 Signatech Nissan Mailleux/Ordo̱ez/Vernay Oreca РNissan LM P2 D 170
17 95 Pegasus Racing Schultis/Simon/Schell – Oreca – 09 FLM M 169
18 93 Genoa Racing Kronfli/Mitchell/Grogor – Oreca – 09 FLM M 169
19 99 JMB Racing Marcelli/Ducote/Moro – Oreca – 09 FLM M 168
20 51 AF Corse Fisichella/Bruni Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro M 168
21 59 Luxury Racing Ortelli/Makowiecki Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro M 167
22 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Lieb/Lietz Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Pro M 167
23 56 BMW Motorsport Priaulx/Alzen BMW M3 LM GTE Pro D 167
24 75 Prospeed Competition Goossens/Holzer Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Pro M 167
25 42 Strakka Racing Leventis/Watts/Kane HPD ARX – 01d LM P2 M 167
26 55 BMW Motorsport Farfus/Müller BMW M3 LM GTE Pro D 167
27 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Pilet/Henzler Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Pro M 167
28 89 Hankook Team Farnbacher Farnbacher/Simonsen Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro H 167
29 66 JMW Motorsport Bell/Walker Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro D 166
30 58 Luxury Racing Beltoise/Jakubowski/Marroc Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro M 164
31 67 IMSA Performance Matmut Armindo/Narac Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Am M 164
32 79 Jota Dolan/Hancock/Buncombe Aston Martin Vantage LM GTE Pro D 164
33 63 Proton Competition Long/Roda Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Am M 163
34 92 Neil Garner Motorsport Hartshorne/Keating/Keen Formula Le Mans – Oreca – 09 FLM M 162
35 62 CRS Racing Ehret/Mullen/Wills Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am M 162
36 50 Larbre Competition Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel Corvette C6-ZR1 LM GTE Am M 162
37 61 AF Corse Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am M 162
38 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Ried/Felbermayr Jr. Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Am M 162
39 57 Krohn Racing Krohn/Jönson/Rugolo Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am D 161
40 65 Lotus Jetalliance Rossiter/Mowlem/Wendlinger Lotus Evora LM GTE Pro M 161
41 60 Gulf AMR Middle East Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright Aston Martin Vantage LM GTE Am D 153
42 82 CRS Racing Quaife/Christodoulou Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am M 133