Peugeot Qualifies 1-2 for Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida

Posted Mar 19, 2010 by Earl Fannin

Updated Mar 19, 2010 at 06:10 PM

Marc Gene of Spain put the #07 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP on the pole for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Friday with a lap of 1:45.214 = 126.599 mph around the 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway bumpy airport circuit, with Nicolas Minassian of France second in the #08 Peugeot at 1:45.841.  Third was the #007 Lola B09 60 Aston Martin of Stefan Mucke of Germany at 1:46.079 = 125.567 mph.

Fourth overall was Marino Franchitti of England, who earned the P2 pole with a lap of 1:47.684 = 123.695 mph in the #1 HPD ARX-01c.

Former West Palm Beach resident Gunnar Jeanette was the fastest qualifier in the new LMPC class.  He turned a lap of 1:55.279 = 115.546 mph in his #99 Oreca FLM09, an automatic record for the new class.

Leh Keen of Charleston, SC, grabbed the pole for the first-ever GTC class with a lap of 2:05.959 =105.749 mph in the #81 Mission Food Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by Alex Job Racing of Tavares.

With two new classes – Le Mans Prototype Challenge and Grand Touring Challenge – that means there is a 26-second and 25 mph difference between the fastest Peugeot P1 and the slowest GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The Peugeots should start lapping the GTCs on the seventh lap.  That would in the first 10 minutes of a 12-hour event!  Can you say get out of the way?

The season-opening American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron should be a great race!