The final round of the Le Mans Series at Silverstone has taken it’s toll on Peugeot’s campaign for the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

The company have been forced to scale back their assault on the race to only one-car following accidents at the Silverstone race two weeks ago.

Nicolas Minassian crashed heavily on the fast Hanger straight to totally destroy his car while Stephane Sarrazin collided with the Audi of Dindo Capello sustaining damage to his car as well.

Peugeot Sport Director Michel Barge said that despite running only the one car that it was still important for Peugeot to take part in order for the team and the technical department to gain even more experience.

“To ensure we have the necessary resources that our participation in this race requires, just as we did at Sebring earlier this year, we have consequently decided to enter just one car.“ he said.

The single car Peugeot entry for Road Atlanta will be driven by Minassian, Sarrazin and Christian Klien, with regular driver Pedro Lamy also attending to assist the team and take part in further testing.

Another  objective  of the entry will be to gain extra experience in full race  conditions,  since the 2008 Le Mans Series calendar was run over just just five rounds, plus the Le Mans 24 Hours. The team which failed to win at both Le Mans and to take the series are looking for further testing opportunities in real world race conditions. Road Atlanta puts strategy to

the  test  because  of  the  heavy  traffic  and  the  frequent  safety car interventions.  “We  face  some stiff competition since all the makes which take  part in the ALMS will be present,“ concludes Michel Barge. “This will enable us to gain valuable additional experience for the future.”

The 2008 Petit Le Mans will be run over 10 hours at the Road Atlanta circuit on October 4, Speed TV will be providing live coverage throughout the USA with Friday qualifying streamed live on speedtv.com. Race commentary from the team at Radio Le Mans will also be streamed live via www.radiolemans.com. Full results and all the news from Road Atlanta will be featured on the October 7th edition of In Pit Lane LIVE right across Melbourne on C31.