Imola, H+1: The two Peugeot 908s in the first two places

Sébastien Bourdais (no. 7 Peugeot Sport Total, Peugeot 908) who started from pole was still in the lead at the end of the first hour of the Imola 6 Hours. Franck Montagny (no. 8 Peugeot Sport Total, Peugeot 908) is lying second after pulling off a beautiful pass on Marcel Fässler (no. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R18 TDI).

The race got off to an incident-free start. Bourdais in the no. 7 Peugeot held on to first place in front of Fässler and Franck Montagny. It was the same story in LM P2 as Jody Firth (no. 46 TDS Racing, Oreca 03 – Nissan) took the lead. In FLM, Elton Julian (no. 93 Genoa Racing) started from the back of the grid and Patrick Simon (no. 95 Pegasus Racing) hit the front.

In LM GTE Pro and LM GTE Am, the pole sitters, Jörg Müller (no. 55 BMW Motorsport, BMW M3) and Patrick Long (no. 63 Proton Competition, Porsche 911 RSR) both kept their first place.

Frédéric Makowiecki (no. 59 Luxury Racing, Ferrari F458 Italia n°59) was in his pit at the start.

Dominik Kraihamer (no. 45 Boutsen Energy Racing, Oreca 03 – Nissan) had the doubtful honour of being the first to spin off into the gravel traps.

On lap 4, Bourdais caught the 2 Lotus Evoras, and began to thread his way through the traffic while under pressure from Fässler, who had Montagny stuck to his gearbox.

There was no change up front until the first round of refuelling stops. McNish was the first to come in on lap 27 followed by Fässler and Montagny on lap 29 and Bourdais a lap later (48th minute).

When they rejoined the order was: Bourdais in the lead followed by Fässler (+3.1s), Montagny (+3.5s), McNish (+11.1s). Montagny snatched second place on lap 32 (54th minute).

Category leaders:
LM P1 : Sébastien Bourdais / Anthony Davidson (no. 7 Peugeot Sport Total, Peugeot 908)
LM P2 : Jody Firth / Mathias Bèche / Pierre Thiriet (no. 46 TDS Racing, Oreca 03 – Nissan)
FLM : Patrick Simon / Mirco Schultis / Julien Schell (no. 95 Pegasus Racing)
LM GTE Pro : Jörg Müller / Augusto Farfus (no. 55 BMW Motorsport, BMW M3)
LM GTE Am : Nicolas Armindo / Raymond Narac (no. 67 IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche 911 RSR)