Montagny back with Peugeot, still after IndyCar ride

For the second year in a row, Franck Montagny will drive a Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP in the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours (13th and 14th of June). The French driver, who finished 3rd last year after a very good race, will compete before in the 12 Hours of Sebring, California (14th of March) and the 1000 Kilometers of Spa in Belgium (10th of May) where the Peugeot team will be preparing for the French classic.

Franck will share one of the three 908 with fellow Frenchmen Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Bourdais at Sebring, and with Sarrazin only at Spa (as Bourdais will be in Spain for F1). Peugeot has published the names of the nine drivers for the 24 Hours but the crews for the three cars are still to be confirmed, as is to be decided what the program will be after the Le Mans race.

Franck Montagny :
"I am very happy to continue with Peugeot. We had a lot of testing during the winter, which is even more important this year because of the new sporting and technical regulations. We'll have to be very careful with the tires as there will be less aerodynamics on the LMP1 prototypes, particularly in difficult weather. Another change is that there will be only two mechanics to change the tires, so we'll have a little more time to swap the drivers. The aim for sure is that Peugeot win the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, after the 2nd and 3rd places in 2008.

It will be the 9th time since 1998 that Franck takes part in the Le Mans 24 Hours. His best result is a 2nd place in 2006 with Éric Hélary and WRC star Sébastien Loeb, at the wheel of a Pescarolo prototype.

Franck will go to America next week to say hello to the Andretti-Green Racing team (for whom he raced in the American Le Mans Series last year) and see what are the possibilities to race in IndyCar later this season or next year.