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Road Atlanta: Peugeot still leads at Hour 3

Autoracing1

The Petit LeMans ALMS race had an auspicious start when Gerardo Bonilla stuffed the rear of the B-K Motorsports new Mazda Coupe into the tire wall at Turn 1 ending the warm-up session early with a red flag. Then Allan McNish was at the wheel of the No. 1 Audi R10 TDI when he ran out of talent on cold tires in the esses. He hit the outside wall before spinning off into the tire wall down the hill. The car was damaged on the left side front and in the rear of the Audi.

"On the out lap on the way to the pits I accelerated a little coming through the Esses and the car spun and went into the wall, cold tires obviously. The car is reasonably heavily damaged," said McNish. "You have to put your hand up to the mistake but I think it is proof that we need to rethink the rules for next year regarding tire-warmers."

Minassian grabs the lead for Peugeot at the start
Adriano Manocchia/AR1.com

The Audi Sport North America team was able to fix the R10 but due to the rule on tire change after qualifying, McNish had to start from pit lane.

The Petit Le Mans race began with Nicolas Minassian placing the Peugeot into the lead with Marco Werner in the No. 2 Audi giving chase.

After several incidences the Peugeot still led at the 3-hour mark. The race will run 10 hours.

Hour 3 Standings

Pos

Car Cls CP Drivers Team Car Laps Gap
1. 07 P1 1. N.Minassian, S.Sarrazin, C.Klien Peugeot Sport Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 116 0.000
2. 7 P2 1. R.Dumas, T.Bernhard Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder 116 19.781
3. 5 P2 2. H.Castroneves, R.Briscoe Penske Motorsports, Inc. Porsche RS Spyder 116 1.978
4. 26 P2 3. F.Montagny, T.Kanaan, M.Andretti Andretti Green Racing Acura ARX-01b 116 4.503
5. 6 P2 4. S.Maassen, P.Long, E.Collard Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder 116 11.464
6. 2 P1 2. L.Luhr, M.Werner Audi Sport North America Audi R10 TDI 116 25.083
7. 15 P2 5. A.Fernandez, L.Diaz, M.Jourdain Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b 115 1 Lap
8. 50 P1 3. D.Watts, O.Pla Team LNT Ginetta-Zytek 07s 115 40.437
9. 1 P1 4. R.Capello, A.McNish, E.Pirro Audi Sport North America Audi R10 TDI 115 5.699
10. 20 P2 6. B.Leitzinger, M.Franchitti, A.Lally Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyder 115 14.971
11. 16 P2 7. C.Dyson, G.Smith Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyder 114 1 Lap
12. 66 P2 8. G.de Ferran, S.Pagenaud, S.Dixon de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b 114 53.384
13. 888 P1 5. S.Hall, L.Halliday, D.Stirling Creation Autosportif Creation CA/07 Aim 109 5 Laps
14. 3 GT1 1. J.O'Connell, J.Magnussen, R.Fellows Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 108 1 Lap
15. 4 GT1 2. O.Gavin, O.Beretta, M.Papis Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 108 3.733
16. 12 P1 6. C.McMurry, B.Willman, T.Burgess Autocon Motorsports Lola B06/10 AER 108 39.757
17. 87 GT2 1. D.Werner, B.Miller, J.Hardt Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 106 2 Laps
18. 45 GT2 2. J.Bergmeister, W.Henzler, M.Lieb Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 106 38.443
19. 44 GT2 3. S.Neiman, D.Law, L.Pechnik Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 106 24.061
20. 88 P1 7. J.Campbell-Walter, H.Primat, S.Simpson Creation Autosportif Creation CA/07 Aim 105 1 Lap
21. 71 GT2 4. D.Farnbacher, D.Muller Tafel Racing Ferrari 430 GT 105 6:22.911
22. 61 GT2 5. T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, E.van de Poele Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT 105 55.801
23. 46 GT2 6. J.van Overbeek, P.Pilet Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 105 4.841
24. 007 GT2 7. P.Drayson, J.Cocker, D.Turner Drayson-Barwell Aston Martin Vantage 104 1 Lap
25. 21 GT2 8. J.Hand, T.Milner, A.Wirth Panoz Team PTG Panoz Esperante 104 33.308
26. 62 GT2 9. M.Salo, J.Melo Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT 104 10.033
27. 73 GT2 10. J.Tafel, A.Figge, P.Ehret Tafel Racing Ferrari 430 GT 103 1 Lap
28. 40 GT2 11. D.Robertson, A.Robertson, D.Murry Robertson Racing Doran Ford GT-R 102 1 Lap
29. 99 GT2 12. B.Aucott, P.Kaffer, S.Daoudi JBM Racing Ferrari 430 GT 102 4.614
30. 18 GT2 13. N.Pastorelli, M.Basseng, F.Pastorelli VICI Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 101 1 Lap
31. 54 GT2 14. T.Pappas, A.Lazzaro Black Swan Racing Doran Ford GT-R 96 5 Laps
32. 11 GT2 15. J.Feinberg, C.Hall Primetime Race Group Dodge Viper Comp Coupe 94 2 Laps
33. 48 P1 8. G.Jeannette, J.Mowlem, S.Johansson Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek 07s 73 21 Laps
34. 37 P1 9. J.Field, D.Dayton, R.Berry Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER 53 20 Laps
35. 28 GT2 16. L.Gigliotti, T.Drissi, M.Goossens LG Motorsports Riley Corvette C6 37 16 Laps
36. 30 P1 10. R.Lewis, L.Hines, G.Forgeois Intersport Racing Lola B07/17 Judd 33 4 Laps
37. 9 P2 9. D.Brabham, S.Sharp, D.Franchitti Highcroft Racing Acura Acura ARX-01b 16 17 Laps