Peugeot confirms 2 cars for Petit LeMans

Peugeot confirmed today that it will attempt to add the trophy from Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6 to its collection with entries into the cornerstone event for the American Le Mans Series. The reigning 24 Hours of Le Mans champion will send two of its diesel-powered Peugeot 908 closed-top prototypes to compete on North America’s grandest sports car racing stage, just as it did to open the season at the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida.

The race is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, September 26 at the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta layout. Pedro Lamy, Nic Minassian, Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin will make up the driving lineup for Peugeot.

“It would be hard for us to imagine a stronger end to 2009 than with Peugeot sending not one but two clean diesel-powered prototypes for an event that truly has become a spectacle on the landscape of global motorsport," said Series President and CEO Scott Atherton. “With the Le Mans trophy already in hand, the potential of adding yet another significant honor to close out the year would wrap up a season for the ages…especially if the rumor mill is indeed accurate and other world-class teams and manufacturers who are no strangers to Road Atlanta, Petit Le Mans and Peugeot confirm their entries in the near future.

“Peugeot’s Petit Le Mans debut last year was nothing short of sterling, and fans at Road Atlanta are no doubt already firming up travel plans for what will be another epic event for sports car racing fans across North America."

Last year’s Petit Le Mans marked the Peugeot factory team’s initial appearance at Road Atlanta. Stephane Sarrazin, Nic Minassian and Christian Klien came up 4.512 seconds shy in knocking off perennial race-winner Audi in an epic battle. It was the same again at Sebring this year when Peugeot lost out by 22.279 seconds.

The French marque found revenge on home ground at Le Mans, taking the top two spots on the overall podium and handing Audi only its second loss in the world’s greatest race since 2000. Patr¢n Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham – currently the LMP1 championship co-leader with Scott Sharp and the Patr¢n Highcroft Acura ARX-02a – drove with Peugeot regulars Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene to victory.

Tickets for the 12th annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6 are available by calling (800) 849-RACE or online at roadatlanta.com.

The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Acura Sports Car Challenge from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The race is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, August 8 and will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 9 on NBC. American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche and Live Timing & Scoring will be available at Racehub on americanlemans.com. Radio coverage also will air live on Sirius Channel 126 and XM Channel 242. You also can follow the Series on Twitter (almsnotes).

The race also will mark the sixth round of the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. Tickets are available at americanlemans.com and midohio.com.