More than 25 drivers with formula one experience will be on the grid at this weekend’s 80th running of the fabled 24 hour Le Mans race.
Near the front, in the premier LMP1 prototype class, will be Allan McNish and Marc Gene, driving for Audi. Scot McNish raced in F1 with Toyota in 2002, while Gene drove for Minardi and is still a Ferrari test driver. Toyota has since left F1 and for 2012 has entered Le Mans, and the Japanese marque’s number 8 entry is a grand prix-superteam featuring Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) and one-off 1999 Minardi driver Stephane Sarrazin.
Team Peugeot Total produced a blend of panache and suspense to round off the 908 HDi FAP’s career with a resounding victory in Sunday’s 1000km of Zhuhai (southeast China). After monopolising the front row of the grid at the start, the two cars succeeded in dominating the early part of the race before coming under pressure themselves. 
Peugeot won Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 on Saturday, this time running the full 1,000 miles. A year after winning a rain-shortened race at Road Atlanta, the trio of Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy scored a 61-second victory in their diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDI. They led a second straight 1-2 finish for the French manufacturer in the cornerstone event for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. 
Stephane Sarrazin put Peugeot back on top at Road Atlanta on Thursday night with the quickest time in the first dry practice session of Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2. The Frenchman posted a lap of 1:08.777 (132.951 mph) in his diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDI factory prototype to nip Audi Sport’s Andre Lotterer by more than a second. 
Peugeot announced Friday that it will return to Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans in September as part of an entry into the inaugural International Le Mans Cup. The French manufacturer – which currently holds overall titles from Le Mans and Petit Le Mans last year and this year’s running of the Sebring 12 Hours with its 908 HDi FAP prototype – joins diesel rival Audi Sport and Drayson Racing as the first confirmed LMP1 entrants for the global championship. 
They won a weather-shortened 12th annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6 at Road Atlanta. Race officials, citing hazardous conditions due to torrential rains that fell at Road Atlanta just past the four-hour mark, called the race at eight hours, 44 minutes running. 
The 31-year-old Frenchman, a former test driver who contested a handful of races with Super Aguri in 2006, recently confirmed he has been in contact with the Renault and USF1 teams. 
The drivers present at this test were Sébastien Bourdais, Marc Gené, Franck Montagny, Alexander Wurz and Sébastien Loeb. Sébastien Loeb made an active contribution to the test which formed part of a programme leading up to a possible participation for the Frenchman in the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, given that there is no WRC round scheduled the same weekend. 
Five months after its one-two finish in June’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Peugeot Sport returns to the French circuit to celebrate its success at the ‘Rencontres Peugeot Sport’ weekend at Le Mans-Bugatti (November 5-8) where a packed programme has been put together for spectators. 