Sarrazin's Peugeot Turbo Diesel

Adriano Manocchia/AR1.com

Stephane Sarrazin put Peugeot back on top at Road Atlanta on Thursday night with the quickest time in the first dry practice session of Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2. The Frenchman posted a lap of 1:08.777 (132.951 mph) in his diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDI factory prototype to nip Audi Sport’s Andre Lotterer by more than a second.

The battle between Audi and Peugeot is one of the key storylines in the 13th annual 1,000-mile/10-hour race. The two factories have battled the last two years with Audi winning in 2008 and Peugeot in 2009. Sarrazin was on pole position in 2008 and won last year’s race with Franck Montagny.

Tom Kristensen was third-fastest in the session in the second Audi R15 TDI with a lap of 1:10.028 (130.576 mph).

In LMP2, Patr¢n Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham went quickest in the team’s HPD ARX-01c with a lap of 1:12.261 (125.541 mph). The team only needs to complete 70 percent of the race Saturday to earn enough points to claim the LMP championship in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr¢n.

Brabham was only 0.06 seconds faster than Lucas Luhr in Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Porsche RS Spyder. CytoSport can win the LMP championship but needs for PHR to finish less than 70 percent of the race distance.

Dyson Racing’s Guy Smith was a further 0.641 seconds behind at 1:12.962 (125.326 mph) in the team’s Mazda-powered Lola coupe.

Extreme Speed Motorsport’s Guy Cosmo went fastest in GT2 in one of the team’s two Ferrari F430 GTs. Cosmo set a lap of 1:20.202 (114.012 mph) and was 0.174 seconds ahead of Corvette Racing’s Olivier Beretta in one of Corvette Racing’s Corvette C6.Rs.

Risi Competizione’s Gianmaria Bruni was third-fastest at 1:20.400 (113.731 mph) in another Ferrari.

Green Earth Team Gunnar and Level 5 Motorsports continued their season-long battle in LMP Challenge. Gunnar Jeannette set the fastest time in class of the evening at 1:17.011 (118.736 mph), just 0.444 seconds quicker than Christophe Bouchut. The two squads are tied for the team championship lead in the class, as are Jeannette and Level 5’s Scott Tucker in the driver’s standings.

Jeroen Bleekemolen put Black Swan Racing on top of the GT Challenge class for the first time this week with a lap of 1:25.516 (106.927 mph) in BSR’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The current championship leader with teammate Tim Pappas was 0.132 seconds ahead of TRG’s Andy Lally. Magnus Racing’s Andrew Davis was further 0.238 seconds adrift.

Friday’s lone practice session is set for 9:30 a.m. ET. Qualifying will start at 3:15 p.m.

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