After playing second fiddle to the Peugeot factory team for most of 2010, the Oreca Peugeot team of Stephane Sarrazin, Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre have won the Algarve 1000 kms in Portugal, the third round of the 2010 Le Mans Series.

It was a dominant performance by the works assisted team, winning the race by five laps after starting from pole.

“It’s good to win!.” said Sarrazin after the race. “The team did a super job. We were under a little pressure but we did what we had to. The refuelling stops were excellent and we dove the right kind of race - a good pace and no mistakes. It’s also worth underling the way the team’s matured since the Le Castellet 8 Hours. I’m delighted to taste the joys of victory again.”

Second place went to the Rebellion Racing Lola of Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani, It was a great performance by the team who drove their way through the field after starting the race in last place.

Aston Martin was third today with Team Signature coming back strong after the retirement at Le Mans. The third place was also a great result for Vanina Ickx who shared the drive with Pierre Ragues and Franck Mailleux.

The RML AD Group Lola-HPD, driven by Mike Newton, Thomas Erdos and Ben Collins, finished fourth to lead home the LMP 2 class.

Team Bruichladdich sprang a major surprise in Portugal when  Karim Ojjeh, Tim Greaves and Thor-Christian Ebbesvik have crossed the line second in class after a faultless race.

Pegasus Racing came away with a far better result than almost anyone had predicted. Third place is more like win for Julien Schell and Frédéric Da Rocha as the pre-race favourites had an awfully tough time in Portimao.

They received something of a consolation prize however as the car that demonstrated the best

overall efficiency and fuel consumption to win the Michelin Green X Challenge.

In the final year of GT1 in the series Saleen had to win the LMGT1 class, the question

was: which one? Larbre Compétition were clearly favourites as they were leading strongly the class thanks to the victory at Le Castellet. Patrice Goueslard, Gabriele Gardel and Fernando Rees didn’t fail and increased the team’s lead as they snatched the victory.

The newcomer Atlas FX-Team FS from Austria Saleen driven by Julien Schroyen, Carlo Van Dam and Adam

Lacko secured promising second place.

As has become the norm for Sportscar racing in 2010, it was GT2 that turned on the closest, most competitive battle.

And once again it was the Ferrari pair of Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Melo who took the win.  “This is our second time here at Portimao.” said Bruni “it’s a fantastic place and an amazing circuit. We

had a poor start this year and the title is gone for us, but we love the Series and will be in Budapest.”

Toni Vilander had a great fight for second place late in the race with Richard Lietz. They drove door to door for a while before the Finn could get the better on the Austrian with only five laps to go in another thriller.

Commentary highlights from Algarve can be heard via the Radio Le Mans Podcast.

The next race will be round four of the Le Mans Series on the Hungaroring (Hungary) on Saturday,

August 22.