When the race was red-flagged shortly before the five-hour mark, Franck Montagny was in the lead in the #08 Peugeot HDI FAP he shared with Stephane Sarrazin, followed by teammates Pedro Lamy and Nicolas Minassian, and five seconds ahead of Alan McNish and Dindo Capello’s Audi R15 TDI. Although the Peugeots never passed the Audi in green-flag racing, they were ahead when the checkered flag fell.
Franck Montagny started second but fell to fourth early on. He described his efforts to get back in the race. “At the beginning we struggled, then we put on the dry tires and we went very, very fast, to catch back up as fast as we could. It was like qualifying laps all the time.
“The only problem is that it was half a race. We wanted to race for a complete one and to fight against Joest [Audi Sport Team Joest] for longer.”
The race started on a wet track and rain came and went throughout the event, keeping teams guessing about tires choices and race strategies. The rain was responsible for many spins, many wrecks, and many laps spent in the pits by many cars. And in the end, it was how the drivers dealt with the rain that decided winners of the two classes where the championship is not yet decided. Related Articles
Although Audi led from the green flag and the winning Peugeot only passed the first-place Audi when Allan McNish spun in the rain during a full-course caution, a win is a win, and Peugeot earned it by being in the right place—in this case, in second place, and on the track—at the right time.
While fans didn’t get to see the epic ten-hour Peugeot-Audi battle they had hoped for, they still got to see an exciting five-hour skirmish that culminated in an Audi disaster which proved a racing adage: it doesn’t matter who leads the most laps, it matters who leads the last lap.
Audi led from the first lap until lap 169, when Allan McNish spun and lost two positions.
On lap 177, the rain started pouring down. Both Audis came in for rain tires, gaining ground on the Peugeots, which were circulating slowly on slicks. McNish recaptured second coming out of the pits, but didn’t hold it for long.
As soon as McNish hit the track he told his team on the radio that the rain was too hard and the stewards needed to call a full-course caution.
Almost simultaneously, McNish and teammate Marco Werner spun, as did Pedro Lamy in the Peugeot, and Robert Bell in the Drayson Lola; the stewards then called a caution. Seven minutes later the stewards red-flagged the race, calling all the cars into the pits until the rain abated.
Four hours later, stewards decided that the track could not be ready by the end of the ten-hour time limit and called the race. Peugeot got the win, while Audi had to be satisfied with third place. 
Audi Seizes Control
Though he started third, Allan McNish in the #2 Audi R15 TDI took the lead from the Peugeots on the first lap.
McNish went low to pass Stephane Sarrazin’s Peugeot 908 HDI FAP, and then moved high to pass Pedro Lamy’s Peugeot on the outside, taking the lead.
McNish and co-driver Dindo Capello kept the Audi in the lead, never less than four seconds ahead of the Peugeots. It looked as though Audi had overcome the troubles it had at Le Mans; the cars were fast and sharp. The Peugeots couldn’t match the Audi’s race pace, despite qualifying much faster.
However, coping with weather is part of endurance racing, and unfortunately for Audi, Allan McNish and Marco Werner picked the wrong times to spin. Pedro Lamy in the Peugeot spun twice too, but he managed not to lose position when he did.
Audi led four-and-a-half hours of the first five; but when the checkered flag fell, it was Peugeot in first place.
Allan McNish was not happy not to have been able to finish the race, though he agreed with the stewards. “It was it was very wet when they called the race and I think it was the right decision.
“At the end of the day I think we did a very good job today we acquitted ourselves extremely well. If we were able to run the race duration I think we’d have been in a very strong position to take the victory but that wasn’t to be,” he said. “Right now I just feel kind of frustrated.“ 
Acura’s Travails
The P1 Acuras, one-two in the American Le Mans Series championship, were not expected to have the pace of the turbo-diesel Peugeots and Audis, but with their high downforce and excellent grip, they were expected to do well, particularly in the wet. However, one of the Acuras very nearly didn’t make it to the race.
Patrón Highcroft’s Scott Sharp totally wrote off the #9 Acura in Thursday afternoon practice. He hit the Farnsbacher Loles GT2 Porsche as it exited the pit lane and flipped three times, totally destroying the car. It is a testament to the level of technology of the modern sports racing car that he was able to walk away, but the car was junk.
The team got a new chassis Friday morning, and made a monumental effort, rebuiling the car in 22 hours, finishing just in time to race.
Scott Sharp, David Brabham, and guest driver, IndyCar star Dario Franchitti, started from pit lane, but drove smart and steady, working up to sixth place by the halfway mark. Patrón Highcroft is only 17 points ahead in the LMP1 championship, and needs a good result at Petit Le Mans.
“When you look at what happened and the mammoth effort that the Patrón Highcroft Racing Team made, the car was very good,” said David Brabham after his first stint. “We did exactly what we needed to do: we stayed out of trouble, we went from last to fifth, and the car is in good shape.”
Brabham said the de Ferran’s team’s difficulties didn’t change Patrón Highcroft’s strategy much. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. Obviously it takes the pressure off a little bit; we don’t have to take any risks. For us it's just get to the finish and we could end up with a really good result.”
De Ferran Racing, second in points, had an opportunity to make up ground in the championship race, after Scott Sharp’s accident, but the team has been stricken with repeated bad luck.
On lap 54, Jon Field in the Intersport Lola rammed de Ferran, breaking the Acura’s rear suspension. That was repaired and the car rejoined the race, 26 laps down.
“I am extremely disappointed that we were doing everything right and someone who had nothing to do with the championship and was a lap behind us really ruined our chances in the championship,” said de Ferran, looking disgusted. “This was a very important race for us. We had a golden opportunity to close our gap and then, through no fault of our own, to be in this position is, to say the least, disappointing. But you know, we go to Laguna with our heads held high and we will do the best we can.” 
IndyCar champ Scott Dixon, joined the team as a guest driver for Petit Le Mans. On his first stint, he lost control in Turn Five and went into the tire wall, damaging the nose.
When that was repaired, the car went back out but then had electrical problems and had to go back to the garage yet again.
“Gil had a problem with the Field car running into the back of him,” Scott Sharp explained, “then going into Five I just got a little wide, hit the puddle on the right, picked up understeer, couldn’t bring it back, got off into the wet and away it went. A silly rookie mistake from myself, and I feel real bad for the guys.”
In Dixon’s defense, it must be noted that he had never driven the casr in the wet, and had not had time to really learn the car even in the dry. In any case, the time lost due to his mishap was but a fraction of the time lost overall, as everything seemed to go wrong for de Ferran Racing.
When the red flag waved, the Patrón Highcroft car was in sixth, while the de Ferran car was in 24th, 48 laps down.
Patrón Highcroft now has 158 points, while de Ferran has 137. With 25 points available at the season finale at Laguna Seca, it is mathematically possible for de Ferran to win the championship, if de Ferran were to win and Highcroft finished worse than tenth. 
P2: Survival
P2 was a race of attrition.
First in class and seventh overall was the #16 Dyson Lola Mazda, which wasn’t even racing for points. The car was running the race as a track test of BP’s Biobutanol fuel. Ironically, the only P2 car which ran reasonably well was the one that was not in the race.
The pole-sitting #20 Dyson actually won P2, although it finished thirteenth overall, six spots behind its sister car. The car spent twenty minutes in the pits with transmission troubles, and spent thirteen laps in last place. The crew fixed the problem and got the car out in running order, but by then it fallen behind most of the GT2 field. It didn’t matter; the other P2 cars were in even worse shape.
“We had a problem with the gear actuator and we were stuck in second but the guys fixed that really quickly,” said driver Marino Franchitti. “I think we were five laps down at that point and we made up three laps in an hour some through strategy, some just through raw speed on the track. To get pole and then the win is just fantastic for this whole team.”
The championship-winning Lowes-Fernandez Acura, normally ultimately reliable, spent more time in the pits than on the track, with a number of problems, many apparently centered around its power steering unit. It finished 21st, forty-five laps behind the leaders.
The Cytosports Porsche Spyder was amazingly fast in the first hour, challenging the Peugeots, until it went off, and developed electrical problems. It finished 48 laps down.
The Dyson Mazda won by breaking leaess badly and less often than the competition, but that too, is part of endurance racing. 
GT2: Ferrari Fights to the Front
GT2, as always, was a non-stop multi-car battle. The Corvette Racing CR6s led much of the way, swapping spots with the Porrsches of Farnbacher Loles and Flying Lizard, the Rahal Letterman BMWs, and the Risi Ferrari.
The Risi Ferrari was lying sixth in class on lap 173 when driver Mika Salo pitted under yellow and asked for rain tires, suspecting that bad weather was imminent. On the next lap the race went green; the rain steadily increased until lap 178, when a massive deluge began. By this time Salo had gained the lead, as all the GT contenders either had to pit for rain tires or had to slow to a crawl to keep from crashing. 
“I could see behind the safety car that it was getting really slippery,” Salo explained, “so I made a call to the team and I said, ‘I think we should go to wets [rain ties], because at the restart it’s going to be a big mess, everybody’s going to go off, and with the wets I can at least be more safe.’
“One-and-half lap-later it started really raining and I had wets on and that was it. We won the race”
Though the the Risi Ferrari had been the last of the best in class for most of the race, when the red, and then the checkered flag fell, the Ferrari was in first.
The championship-leading #45 Flying Lizard Porsche finished fifth in class, its lead over the Ferrari cut to 21 points. As with the P1 race, the Ferrari will need to win while the Porsche finishes well off the pace; worse than tenth, in this case. The chances are slim, but the Risi Ferrari at least has a chance.
The final race of the 2009 American Le Mans Series season is the Monterey Sports Car Championship at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in Laguna Seca, California on October 11. Please visit the Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway Web site for ticket information.
|
12th Annual Petit Le Mans–Final Results |
||||||||
|
place |
class pos |
# |
class |
driver |
car |
laps |
gap |
status |
|
1 |
1 |
08 |
P1 |
(Sarrazin)/ Montagny* |
Peugeot 908 HDI FAP |
184 |
— |
Running |
|
2 |
2 |
07 |
P1 |
Minassian*/ (Lamy) |
Peugeot 908 |
184 |
2.011 |
Running |
|
3 |
3 |
2 |
P1 |
Capello*/ (McNish) |
Audi R15 TDI |
184 |
3.465 |
Running |
|
4 |
4 |
1 |
P1 |
Luhr*/ (Werner) |
Aud1 R15 TDI |
183 |
1 Lap |
Running |
|
5 |
5 |
7 |
P1 |
Panis/ (Lapierre*)/ Dumas |
Oreca 01 |
181 |
3 Laps |
Running |
|
6 |
6 |
9 |
P1 |
(Brabham)/ Sharp/ D.Franchitti |
Acura ARX-02a |
180 |
4 Laps |
Running |
|
7 |
1 |
16 |
UNC |
(Dyson)/ Smith |
Lola B09/86 Mazda |
177 |
7 |
Running |
|
8 |
1 |
62 |
GT2 |
(Melo*)/ Kaffer/ Salo |
Ferrari 430 |
170 |
14 Laps |
Running |
|
9 |
2 |
92 |
GT2 |
D.Mueller*/ (Milner)/ J.Mueller |
BMW E92 M3 |
169 |
15 Laps |
Running |
|
10 |
3 |
87 |
GT2 |
(Henzler*)/ Werner |
Porsche 911 RSR |
169 |
15 Laps |
Running |
|
11 |
4 |
4 |
GT2 |
Beretta*/ (Gavin)/ Faessler |
Chevrolet Corvette C6. |
169 |
15 Laps |
Running |
|
12 |
5 |
45 |
GT2 |
Bergmeister/ (Long*)/ Lieb |
Porsche 911 RSR |
169 |
15 Laps |
Running |
|
13 |
1 |
20 |
P2 |
Leitzinger/ (Franchitti*)/ Devlin |
Lola B09/86 Mazda |
168 |
16 Laps |
Running |
|
14 |
6 |
3 |
GT2 |
Magnussen/ (O'Connell*)/ Garcia |
Chevrolet Corvette C6. |
168 |
16 Laps |
Running |
|
15 |
7 |
44 |
GT2 |
Law/ van Overbeek/ (Neiman*) |
Porsche 911 RSR |
162 |
22 Laps |
Running |
|
16 |
8 |
28 |
GT2 |
(Sutherland*)/ Drissi/ Bell |
Chevrolet Riley Corvett |
157 |
27 Laps |
Running |
|
17 |
7 |
37 |
P1 |
(J.Field*)/ C.Field |
Lola B06/10 |
152 |
32 Laps |
Mechanical |
|
18 |
9 |
21 |
GT2 |
Farnbacher*/ (James) |
Panoz Esperante |
152 |
32 Laps |
Running |
|
19 |
8 |
12 |
P1 |
Burgess/ McMurry*/ (Willman) |
Lola B06/10 |
144 |
40 Laps |
Accident |
|
20 |
10 |
40 |
GT2 |
(Murray*)/ D.Robertson/ A.Roberts |
Doran Ford GT-R |
142 |
42 Laps |
Running |
|
21 |
2 |
15 |
P2 |
Fernandez*/ (Diaz) |
Acura ARX-01B |
139 |
45 Laps |
Running |
|
22 |
3 |
6 |
P2 |
(Pickett)/ Graf*/ Maassen |
Porsche RS Spyder |
136 |
48 Laps |
Running |
|
23 |
11 |
17 |
GT2 |
(Sellers*)/ Cicero |
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR |
136 |
48 Laps |
Running |
|
24 |
9 |
66 |
P1 |
(de Ferran)/ Pagenaud*/ Dixon |
Acura ARX-02a |
136 |
48 Laps |
Running |
|
25 |
12 |
90 |
GT2 |
Hand*/ (Auberlen)/ Priaulx |
BMW E92 M3 |
133 |
51 Laps |
Running |
|
26 |
13 |
11 |
GT2 |
(Feinberg)/ Hall* |
Dodge Viper |
129 |
55 Laps |
Accident |
|
27 |
10 |
88 |
P1 |
Drayson/ (Cocker*)/ Bell |
Lola B06/10 |
123 |
61 Laps |
Running |
*Qualifying Driver (Starting Driver)
