Sebring 12-Hours: Team Oreca Matmut Peugeot Takes Top Honors

SEBRING, Fla.—After twelve tough hours of racing, it was not a factory car, but rather a year-old privateer’s car which won the 59th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Team Oreca Matmut, driving an outmoded Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP, outlasted the new Pugeot factory 908s, as well as the Audi R15++ versions built specially for Sebring.

True, Team Oreca Matmut is essentially a Peugeot satellite team; but the team does not have all of Peugeot’s money, does not have Peugeot’s lineup of ex-Formula One drivers … what Matmut does have is the 2011 Sebring 12 hours trophy.

Matmut’s driver lineup of Nicolas Lapierre, Loic Duval, Olivier Panis proved more than up to the task. Clean, fast driving and great race strategy gave Matmut the win. Driver Loic Duval pressed hard at the start of the final stint to open a gap, then team owner Hugues de Chaunac called in the car for an early pit stop halfway through the last stint, to avoid being caught out should there be a caution.

When the Matmut pitted from the lead, the third place Peugeot followed suit. However, the Peugeot took fresh tires, possibly hoping to make a last half-hour sprint into the lead. The Matmut took fuel only and got back out still in the lead, with enough of a gap, the second-place Highcroft could not catch up without risking running out of fuel.

Highcroft’s achievements are notable in themselves. The team came to Sebring earlier in the week with a car that had never been tested, never even driven. The team took the brand new car and made it work; though down on power, the HPD-ARX-01e worked well enough to stay ahead of the third-place Peugeot in the final hour even while conserving fuel.

Veteran Highcroft drivers David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud, and Marino Franchitti teamed up for another in a long string of flawless endurance-race performances. It was the lack of errors in driving, strategy, and pit work which gave highcroft the edge.

The best-placed Peugeot finished third behind the Highcroft. The #8 car with its drivers Stephane Sarrazin, Frank Montagny, and Pedro Lamy did not quite manage an error-free race. A late-race spin coupled with a fumbled final pit stop prevented the team form defending its 2010 Sebring 12 Hour win.

A full report including the other class winners will follow.