Peugeot to start on pole

Peugeot stunned Audi to snatch pole position for the weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race.

Stephane Sarrazin, who partners with fellow Frenchmen Sebastien Bourdais and Franck Montagny, clocked a fastest lap of three minutes and 22.888 seconds in the dying minutes of a night qualifying session on Thursday.

Champions Audi, with eight wins in the last nine years, had to be content with second place after Scotland's Allan McNish was 0.762 second slower than Sarrazin, who has yet to win at Le Mans.

The race is due to start at 3 p.m. (Malta time) today and end 24 hours later but the winner may have to wait until July to be officially crowned after Peugeot said they would appeal a decision by the organisers.

A FIA panel have a month to say whether Audi's cars conform to the regulations, as organisers stated despite Peugeot's complaints.