Peugeot smash Le Mans lap record in qualifying

Peugeot pulverised the Le Mans lap record and filled the top three places after first qualifying for the weekend's 24 Hours sportscar race late on Wednesday. French driver Stephane Sarrazin, partnered by Portugal's Pedro Lamy and Austrian Alex Wurz in...

Peugeot pulverised the Le Mans lap record and filled the top three places after first qualifying for the weekend's 24 Hours sportscar race late on Wednesday.

French driver Stephane Sarrazin, partnered by Portugal's Pedro Lamy and Austrian Alex Wurz in the diesel-engined 908, demolished the existing record by 7.8 seconds with a time of three minutes, 18.513 seconds in the first session.

The remaining two Peugeots were also comfortably inside the lap record, with the three works Audi diesel R10s filling the next three places.

Final qualifying ended last night.

Another trio of former Formula One drivers filled the second slot with France's Franck Montagny, partnered by Austrian Christian Klien and Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, lapping in 3:18.682.

Canada's 1997 Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve, Spaniard Marc Gene and France's Nicolas Minassian, were third fastest in 3:20.451.

Audi have won at Le Mans for the past four years in a row and in seven of the last eight outings. However Peugeot have won all three LMS series races so far this season.

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