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LMS

AT HISTORIC MIL MILHAS

For the teams and drivers who made the special effort to compete in the final race of the 2007 Le Mans Series, the historic Mil Milhas, their effort was rewarded with a fantastic event on a legendary circuit.

The sight of the Le Mans Series GT and Prototype cars once again racing into the night, including the Pescarolo, Pierre Bruneau and Peugeot, evoked memories of Le Mans in June.

With second place behind their teammates Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy were rewarded with the drivers' title, and Peugeot the teams' title by just 3.5 points from Pescarolo Sport. It is the first time that a diesel car has won the Le Mans Series title. "We started in January with a completely new car and the team have made it a reliable and a fast car," said Sarrazin who, with Lamy, has won three times this season.

Minassian and Gene won the 27th edition of the Mil Milhas Brazil for Peugeot, the pair's third win this year and they finished third in the drivers' standings behind their team-mates, and Pescarolo's Jean-Christophe Boullion.

The pair had a comfortable race, which went to the full 1000-mile distance in less than nine hours having run at an impressive pace in mostly dry conditions. Just one safety car period, when Pierre Bruneau's Pilbeam refused to turn through Turn 1 in the eighth hour, interrupted Peugeot's run to an historic win.

Minassian and Gene ran to a safe fuel strategy and took victory by 12 laps. Pescarolo's challenge for the title was a valiant effort by the team, but a broken wishbone early in the second hour put paid to their chances.

Lamy had a scare as early as the pace lap when his Peugeot 908 HDI FAP failed to get away from the dummy grid cleanly, and the pole sitter watched the entire field pass him as he sat on the front row. A problem with the clutch master cylinder was rectified before the field came round to start the race, but it was an early sign of what was to come. In the fifth hour the car lost four laps with a light problem, and lost further time when the team made a precautionary stop to check the source of sparks which lit up the track in the dark.

Finishing on the Le Mans Series podium for the first time this year was the Creation of Jamie Campbell- Walter, Felipe Ortiz and Stuart Hall. The team was worried early in the race by high water temperatures, and a spin by Ortiz after contact with a GT2 Porsche, but it was an otherwise faultless event for the little British team which made the trip having contested the final two races of the American Le Mans Series.

"LM" P2

Michael Vergers, Karim Ojjeh and Juan Barazi took class victory in their Gulf-liveried Zytek, their second successive win in the series and their third podium of the year.

The battle raged between the Zytek and the Embassy Racing Radical for much of the race, but was ultimately decided by a broken rear wishbone which put Warren Hughes's Embassy car into the gravel in the sixth hour.

"We were not up against the slouches of the class," joked Barazi after the race. "It was a long race and we wanted to drive it at a chilled pace, but they didn't let us."

For the Embassy team, the suspension failure lost them any chance of challenging for the win.

"We would have liked to have finished on the podium on merit with speed an reliability," said Hughes, who shared the car with Darren Manning and Mario Haberfeld. "We had a good race with the Zytek, we have a new car coming next year and with Darren and Mario we make a formidable lineup, so I hope we can all be together next year."

Pierre Bruneau's Pilbeam had a disappointing race after making a big effort to get to the Brazilian event. The car did not fire in time to take the start and though it did get going quickly, a long stop to repair bodywork preceded the accident in the eighth hour with Bruneau at the wheel.

"LM" GT1

The battle between Aston Martin and Ferrari continued in Brazil. In the end, a gear selection problem cost the Corvette its six lap lead over the Aston Martin and left Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Patrice Goueslard to take second.

Roland Berville, Gregor Fisken, Steve Zacchia and Fernando Rees took a clear win after almost nine hours of racing.

"Our car was very good, fast and we just had some bad luck with the gearbox, but this is racing," said Beretta.

"LM" GT2

Marc Lieb, Xavier Pompidou and Marc Basseng finished a successful season for the Felbermayr Proton team by taking their third victory of the year.

The three drivers had a relatively problem-free race; their only scare came when Basseng challenged the James Watt Automotive Porsche of Danish driver Allan Simonsen for the lead midrace and the two collided, damaging the front of the Felbermayr Proton car.

"It has been a successful year -- I have won two 24 hour races for Porsche and three 1000km races, but unfortunately this time we didn't take the Le Mans Series title," said Lieb.

The battle for second place raged between the two JMB Ferraris with the newly-crowned champion Rob Bell taking third place in the car shared with Ben Aucott and Philipp Peter, behind the sister car of Alexandre Funari Negrao, Alexandre Sarnes Negrao and Andreas Mattheis.

"We have had a good race in GT2, a tough fight particularly between Ferrari and Porsche this year," said Bell. "The three of us really enjoyed the circuit and we are happy to be here."

THRILLING SPANISH RACE SEES PEUGEOT TAKE SECOND

VICTORY

Peugeot raced to its second victory of the 2007 season when Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin recorded a three lap win, but it was the battle for second position that brought the crowd to its feet.

The Rollcentre Racing Judd-powered Pescarolo ran in second place for much of the final hour but an incident with a back marker dropped it to third, and a collapsed suspension just nine laps from the end ended their chances of scoring a podium position.

There was a memorabe performances from series newcomers Arena Motorsport which ran in third place until mid-distance before a broken throttle cable brought the Zytek into the pits.

Two teams new to the Le Mans Series finished on the podium. Charouz Racing took second place with their Lola Judd, and Swiss Spirit ?? nished third in their Audi-powered Lola.

In the "LM" P2 and "LM" GT2 classes there was drama in the closing stages. A puncture for the Bruichladdich Radical after contact with a back marker dropped it from second in the "LM" P2 class to third, while in the "LM" GT2 class Raymond Narac led comfortably before he was pushed off the track and crashed. Rob Bell, in the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari, hounded the Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche of Marc Lieb to the fiag.

"LM" P1

Stephane Sarrazin snatched the lead from Nicolas Minassian as soon as the lights turned to green, and led his team-mate through the traffic in a perfect display of endurance race driving.

In the fifth hour a crucial decision on whether or not to change tyres allowed the number 7 Peugeot to get ahead for the first time. A stop and go penalty put the number 8 back in front but Minassian re-took the lead on his fresher tyres before his clutch failed.

Joao Barbosa and Stuart Hall had driven an exemplary race in the Rollcentre Pescarolo having lost time when they pitted shortly before the only safety car period of the race at mid-distance.

Barbosa went off the track to avoid a backmarker, handing second to Stefan Mucke, but fought back and the two went wheel to wheel on the high speed approach to the first corner. "He was defending his position, but maybe just a little too much,"said Barbosa. For Charouz, it was their first podium.

Mucke, Alex Yoong and Jan Charouz finished three laps behind the Peugeot and a lap ahead of the Swiss Spirit Racing Audi-powered Lola. Jean-Denis Deletraz fiew from Silverstone to bring the car home in the third podium position.

The two Pescarolo Judds finished fifth and sixth. Harold Primat struggled to get away from the grid as his car refused to start, though he was able to join the queue before the lights turned to green. The sister car of Romain Dumas was also in trouble early in the second hour when it suffered a split fuel injector pipe and a puncture following a collision with another competitor.

"LM" P2

The Quifel ASM Team took victory at Valencia, but even the team was surprised with the result after several incidents. "It was a tough race, and there were plenty of incidents," said Amaral, whose spin led to the only safety car period of the race. "We kept our car running at a pace and due to the lack of luck of our competitors, we managed to win."

The Portuguese team finished two laps clear of the Saulnier Racing Courage which looked on course to take third position before a slow puncture dropped the Bruichladdich Radical to third. Robin Liddell was given the task of chasing the leading Lola for the lead, but a collision with a back marker caused a slow puncture. "I was going for it, and set the fastest lap the car had gone all race," said Liddell. "I was alongside the Panoz but I don't think he saw me and we had contact, causing a puncture."

The RML team led before an alternator failure led to a stop to change the battery, and a problem with the rear diffuser and a misfire towards the end dropped the car to sixth in class at the chequer fiag. The Horag Lista Lola Judd was also competitive before an engine failure in the fifth hour.

The AMR Larbre Aston Martin of Christophe Bouchut, Gabriele Gardel and Fabrizio Gollin ran with a new air conditioning unit for the first time in preparation for Le Mans next month. "We started the weekend with a few problems, but we achieved our goal which was to finish the race," said Gardel.

The Team Modena Aston Martin was driven by Antonio Garcia and Christian Fittipaldi, but their goal of finishing on the podium was spoiled when the battery drained of power. The team made ten pit stops in total for a combination of regular pit stops and changing the batteries, and they were classified fifth in class behind the Luc Alphand Aventures C6.R of Jerome Policand, Patrice Goueslard and Luc Alphand, who survived a trip into the gravel on the 94th lap.

"LM" GT2

The battle for GT2 raged between Porsche and Ferrari but it was Marc Lieb and Xavier Pompidou who recorded the first international victory for the Porsche 997 model. Lieb drove the majority of the race and was behind the wheel when Rob Bell in the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari challenged throughout the final half hour of the race.

"There was some close racing and it was a great fight between Porsche and Ferrari," said double drivers' champion Lieb. "We were lucky that the IMSA car went out, I hope that he is OK, and we were able to score the first victory for the 997." Richard Lietz and Raymond Narac, driving the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche, led the category, but Narac was the victim of some aggressive driving and was pushed off the circuit, crashing out of the race after a competitive drive.

Behind, the battle raged between the Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche, the Virgo Motorsport and Scuderia Villorba Ferraris and the Farnbacher Porsche of Dirk Werner, Pierre Ehret and Lars Eric Nielsen.