Peugeot Joins ALMS Sebring Winter Test

Peugeot Sport is one of the ten manufacturers who have signed up for the fourth annual American Le Mans Series Winter Test scheduled from January 28 to 30 at the Sebring International Raceway. The manufacturer will be joining test regulars such as Audi Sport North America, Penske Racing and Dyson Racing from the Porsche camp, Intersport Racing, three Acura teams, and Mazda's B-K Motorsports.

The striking list of manufacturers joining Peugeot in the three-day Test has representations from Dodge, Ferrari, Ford and Panoz. The event serves as a warm-up for the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring showcased by Fresh from Florida on March 15, the opening race for the 2008 ALMS.

The entry of a Peugeot 908, a diesel-powered vehicle, have molded a belief that the French factory will enter the Sebring endurance classic and offer a nice rematch of 2007's clash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Peugeot began on pole position there but Audi dominated the race with the trio of Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro/Marco Werner taking their second straight victory in the Audi R10 TDI, wrote Nancy Knapp Schilke of Motorsport. The team won by ten laps over the Peugeot of Sebastien Bourdais/Pedro Lamy/Stephane Sarrazin. The Audi trio also won last year at Sebring, the release continued.

At Sebring, the environment will be busy and the ambiance warm. Audi and Acura cold air intakes will be preoccupied too. Penske Racing will be testing its Porsche RS Spyders until today. Dyson Racing, also an RS Spyder team, and Flying Lizard Motorsports from GT2 will also be busy with the tests. Andretti Green Racing, Highcroft Racing and Lowe's Fernandez Racing all will test their new Acura ARX-01b prototypes January 14 to 15 with Audi testing January 21 to 23, divulged The Auto Channel.

Last year’s Champs Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin have showcased their talents in the North American-based series. The dynamic duo had to contend with their own teammates in their sister car plus another French team and its drivers. It was a tough race in the season finale. But the duo etched a clever comeback to ink a record. They finished second on the Interlagos circuit in Brazil to their sister car.

"We were under pressure during the race because of problems like our clutch trouble at the start," confessed Lamy. "I can hardly believe we've won the title after such an eventful race, but we are effectively champions!"

Notwithstanding the loss at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Peugeot Sport Director Michael Barge was pleased with their debut season in the LMS. "It's a marvelous result for Peugeot and for everyone who has worked so hard at Peugeot Sport since the beginning of our endurance program," he said after their final race in 2007.

Evander Klum is a Business Administration graduate who hails from Alabama. He enjoys extreme sports and he is also a car racing fanatic. At present, he works as a marketing manager at an advertising agency in Cleveland.