Nine hours in... - June 13th 2010

Driver change at Le Mans for Minassian

An incident for the Peugeot No. 1 car of Davidson/Gene/Wurz losing them 13 minutes with an alternator and starter motor change meant the No. 2 HDi FAP of Minassian/Montagny/Sarrazin took over the lead after nine hours of racing, ahead of the Oreca Peugeot.

Slipping down to seventh, car No 1 starts to claw its way back as night sets in.

The Race: Alexander Wurz hands over to Marc Gené at 22h10 with a lead of over two minutes on car No 2, but just three laps later, at 22h27, Gene comes back into the pits with electrical problems. In total he loses over 13 precious minutes while his mechanics replace the alternator and starter motor, damaged by a short circuit, and restarts in 7th place. From there he pushes hard and at 23h22 posts the fastest lap of the race so far at 3’20”973.

At 23h50 he again posts the fastest lap of 3’20”804 and at midnight moves up to 5 th place. While the Peugeot No 2 fights to get back up to the front, the No 1 car of Minassian/Montagny/Sarrazin continues its progress without incident, moving up to and holding the first place ahead of the Peugeot 908 of Team Oreca.

Nicolas Minassian (No 2): "My first session went ok. However on my second run I picked up rubber on my tyres making the car less comfortable to drive. Le Mans is above all about finishing. The incident with the No 1 car reminds us to be really alert!"