Diesel Duel at Sebring

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FLORIDA—With two hours of racing left at the Mobil 1 Sebring 12 Hours, the race for the overall victory was now a duel of diesel-powered P1 cars, the tested Peugeot versus the new Audis. The Peugeot was faster on the straightaways, while the Audis was quicker through the corners. All the other P1 cars were either retired, or too far back to figure in the final outcome.

The new Acuras were having problems with their hydraulic steering, something that had been bothering them all through testing. With three hours, twenty minutes left, the de Ferran Acura retired, while the Patron Highcroft Acura soldiered on, despite having hydraulic problems.

With 3:40 left, Sarazin was leading Capello by the smallest of margins. With 3:38 to go Capello got by to take the lead, outbraking the Peugeot, which was on older tires. Once in the lead, Capello brought the Audi in for a driver change, giving th car to Tom Kristensen. 

With three hours to go, Audi was back in the lead with its brand-new R15TDI performing flawlessly in its first race. Tom Kristansen in the #2 Audi held a lead of just over five seconds over the #08 Peugeot driven by Sebastien Bourdais. Then Bourdais made an unscheduled stop to replace a punctured rear tire, letting Mike Rockenfeller in the #1 Audi into second place.

As darkness began to fall, and temperature too, tire choice began to be an issue. Peugeot was able to double-stint on the harder compound (keep the e same set of tires through two rounds of scheduled pit stops) while the Audis were changing tires on every stop. When the Peugeots’ tires were nearing their end, the Audis had a noticeable edge in traction. At 7:50 pm, with 2 ½ hours left, Audi switched over to softer tires.

Sebastien Bourdais retook the lead while the Audis were in the pits.

At 8 p.m., the order was Sebastien Bourdais’s Peugeot, the Audis of Tom Kristensen and Mike Rockenfeller, Christian Klien’s Peugeot, eight laps down, Dario Franchitti in the Patron Highcroft Acura, seventeen laos down, rounding out the top five.

Adrian Fernandez in the P2 Acura was in sixth, first in class. The GT1 Corvettes of Johnny O’Connell and Olivier Beretta were next, and in ninth was GT2 leader Jaime Melo in the Risi Competizione Ferrari.

Ten minutes later, Audi was back in the lead as Peugeot came in for tires. After ni hours, forty-five minutes of racing, forty seconds separated the top three cars.

With two hours left, the race was far too close to call. Barring accidents or incidents, either Audi or Peugeot could seize the victory.