Autosport has confirmed news that Anthony Davidson will join the Le Mans-winning Peugeot team for the this year’s 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Jam.

The former grand prix driver was part of Aston Martin’s LMP1 line-up at Le Mans last season, finishing 13th overall in the #008 car with Darren Turner and Jos Verstappen.

He expressed his desire to continue racing sportscars at the time, and was today announced as part of the factory Peugeot team’s line-up after failing to land a drive in Formula 1 this year.

World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb had been linked with the drive, but Peugeot called up Ant after deciding Loeb’s schedule would be too busy.

“We had a number of options for this car, including Sebastien Loeb,” explained Peugeot Sport boss Olivier Quesnel. “He has reached a sufficiently high standard to be considered as a potential team member and we waited until the Swedish Rally before we took any decision.

“Every driver has to be 100 per cent committed to our programme and it eventually became clear than Sebastien’s schedule would be too tight. Anthony Davidson was available, he is quick, enthusiastic and very happy to be part of Team Peugeot Total.

“We needed two teams of sprinters and one of routier-sprinters while at the same time maintaining a sense of balance. It is my belief that we have three crews capable of victory at Le Mans.”

Ant will also share the with Wurz and Gene in the American Le Mans Series season opener, the Sebring 12 Jam, on March 20. Peugeot will field two cars in the event, with Bourdais, Lamy and Minassian sharing the other.

A nice bit of news for any of you who collect diecast models of Anthony’s race cars… Spark have released a 1:43 scale model of the #008 Gulf Racing Aston Martin LMP1 that Anthony drove at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours with Darren Turner and Jos Verstappen.
It’s a resin kit – which basically means it may not be every bit as gorgeous as some of Minichamps finest work – but don’t worry; Spark have an excellent reputation so you can expect it to be a classy piece of work nonetheless.
Spark’s catalogue number for this is SPK1457.

Anthony and his team-mates Michael Krumm (GER), dan Darren Turner (ck), drove the all-new Nissan GT-R to third place in the GT1 category at the fiercely demanding Spa 24 Jam, 25 -- 26 Juli, in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgia.

Dibangun ke 2010 FIA GT1 technical regulations, dan mengambil bagian dalam putaran dipilih dari 2009 Championship as part of its development year, yang NISSAN Motorsports-masuk #35 NISSAN GT-R qualified an impressive 8th position on the grid and finished 13th overall, 3 di GT1 kelas - karena berjalan di tempat 4 dan ke-5 untuk lima jam penuh pada malam hari. 13 mobil posisi berarti itu adalah mobil ditempatkan tertinggi berlarian ke 2010 FIA GT1 spesifikasi. Kalau bukan karena masalah drivetrain sekitar pukul 6:30, biaya tim yang lebih dari 15 tempat, dan setidaknya satu setengah jam di lubang-lubang untuk mengganti komponen yang diperlukan, podium secara keseluruhan akan menjadi sebuah kemungkinan. But once the car was back out on track at around 8.15am, yang NISSAN GT-R terus melakukan kuat, menarik diri kembali ke atas menjalankan perintah dari 19 hingga 13 tempat.

Other than this one technical problem, seluruh 24-jam lomba berjalan lancar untuk NISSAN GT-R, dengan baik driver, nor the team, membuat satu kesalahan. Meskipun kehilangan podium secara keseluruhan sedikit mengecewakan, the team was delighted to have finished a 24-hour race at the car’s first attempt. Untuk 2009, Motorsports NISSAN INTERNATIONAL (TIDAK) Motorsport Gigawave ditunjuk sebagai tim pengembangan dan mitra, to assist in the development and homologation of the NISSAN GT-R for FIA GT1 di 2010, musim peluncurannya sebagai Kejuaraan Dunia.

Anthony komentar setelah perlombaan:

“It’s never easy running a new car for 24 jam dan tim telah melakukan pekerjaan luar biasa untuk mendapatkan ke selesai. Selain dari satu masalah teknis, everything ran like clockwork. Aku sudah benar-benar menikmati berada di sini, racing with the NISMO and Gigawave MotorSport team, and my team-mates have been fantastic. We really gelled. As for the car, keandalan nampaknya baik. The NISSAN GT-R mesin, in particular, telah terbukti sangat kuat. All three drivers have given it death over the weekend and it’s hung on in there!”