Since it's 2006 debut, the Audi R10 TDI has raced exclusively in the American Le Mans Series except for the annual June trek to France for the big all-day race. This past weekend a pair of R10s campaigned by the Joest team made their first run in the European Le Mans series with a second place finish in season opener at Barcelona. The Audis were again competing against the pair of Peugeot 908 HDi coupes which won the European championship last year. The Audi of Dindo Capello and Allan McNish finished second to the Peugeot of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené. The second Audi and Peugeot finished 5th and 6th respectively. The Barcelona race, like most of the European races, was more of an endurance run with a length of 1,000km compared to the 2-3 hour sprints that make up most of the American series. Audi is planning to run both the full European and American seasons this year with Joest handling the duties overseas while Champion Racing campaigns the cars in the ALMS. Unfortunately, it appears that we won't be seeing the Peugeots stateside again this year. Hopefully they will at least come over to participate in the Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta in the fall.

[Source: Audi]

When the American Le Mans Series held their winter test session at Sebring a couple of weeks ago, Peugeot dropped by with their diesel-powered 908 coupe. For their first visit they did pretty well, beating the more experienced Audi R10s by eight-tenths of a second. In the hands of Stéphane Sarrazin the Peugeot also beat the previous lap record - set by the Audi during qualifying for last year's race - by more than two seconds.

Peugeot announced on Friday that they will return to Sebring March 12-15 for this year's running of the 12 Hour race. The ALMS season opener will kick off the tenth season for the series. The addition of the Peugeot will mean three diesel-powered LMP1 cars at Sebring. With their ultimate goal being victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at this time, it's unknown if Peugeot will run any other races in North America this year. Hopefully they will decide to stick around for a full season of fun, or at least turn up for the Detroit Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

When the American Le Mans Series held their annual winter open test session at Sebring last week a newcomer showed up for the party. Peugeot brought over one of the 908 HDi diesel race cars that dominated the Le Mans racing series in Europe in 2007. Peugeot is apparently testing the waters to determine if they want to take on the Audi R10s on US tracks. While nothing is official yet, things are looking promising. Peugeot managed to set the fastest overall lap time of the three-day test session at 1m 42.801s, over eight-tenths of a second faster than the Audi. Peugeot will be making an announcement on February 15 about what their 2008 racing plans will be and whether that will include the full ALMS series.

[Source: Peugeot]