Victory For Ant, Alex & Marc At Sebring 12 שעות גזע

Huge congrats are in order for Ant, Alex and Marc on a tremendous victory this weekend at Sebring.
Alexander Wurz’s outlap after his final stop was quick enough for an overall victory for himself and Team Peugeot Total teammates Marc Gene and Anthony Davidson. Wurz drove his diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDi FAP to a 13.817-second win at the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, a first in the event for the famed French marque.

Sebastien Bourdais, Nic Minassian and Pedro Lamy were second, putting an exclamation point on the weekend for the French Lions. The Peugeots were 1-2 in every official session this week.

Gene and Wurz were teammates for Peugeot’s historic victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June 2009. The 908 HDi now holds trophies from all of the major endurance races with a win at Petit Le Mans in September.

“We pushed, everyone was 100 percent,” said Wurz, who won at Le Mans last year with Gene. The strategy people had smoke coming out of their ears. It was down to three seconds (the margin) for the last stop. It came down to Sebastian and myself.”

The factory Peugeot team used the race as a warmup for Le Mans. Aston Martin Racing with its Lola B09/60-Aston Martin and Drayson Racing’s Lola B09/60-Judd provided the biggest challenges early. The Drayson Lola proved tough early on with Emanuele Pirro running second between the two Peugeots in the early going before it fell back with cooling and radiator issues.

“With Peugeot we came here as a team and wanted to accomplish a goal and we did,” said Ant, who finished second in GTS during the 2003 גזע. “This was a big challenge to get through the traffic efficiently. That was where we excelled today. It’s a big challenge for the cars. We know the circuit will throw up all kinds of issues for reliability. It’s important to win the race, but also for preparations for Le Mans later in the year.”

Adrian Fernandez, Harold Primat and Stefan Mücke placed third in the Lola-Aston Martin, making its first start in the 12 שעות. It will go up against Peugeot at Le Mans, as will Audi. Gene is convinced the trip to Sebring will be worth it come the 24 שעות.

“We really think and after driving, this is the best prep for Le Mans,” he said. “In those corners especially the last one, you find the right places to over take, in Turn 17 you can overtake in the outside but a few times I picked up a lot of rubber. It’s a tough track but perfect practice for overtaking. The bumps are more perfect for Le Mans than maybe Paul Ricard, where it is more smooth. There isn’t any other corner in the world like that.”

Source: Sebring Raceway