[Holt]

"As for Le Mans. That is the very difficult question. I don’t think we’ll be quicker than Peugeot, I think we’ll be very close to them. I think we’ll be close on straight-line speed and on lap time. And after that it’s down to us as drivers to get through traffic, it’s down to reliability, it’s down to the pit stops and it’s down to us being a little bit under less pressure than they are. "

- Allan McNish

McNish seems spot on to me. I think Peugeot will retain a slight overall speed advantage, I certainly don't think the #7 will be anymore then 2 seconds off the race pace of the quickest Peugeot, though. In fact I think the #7 will give the #1 and #4 Peugeots fits, and may actually lead them from the start.

I've been looking at some footage of the 8 hours of Paul Ricard, and the R15+ is extremely quick in a straight line. Both cars passed a Lola Aston Martin at the same high speed point on the track but the R15+ made it look a bit easier. However outside of traffic the R15+ was not able to gap the ORECA Peugeot throughout the first stint as the gap stayed at around 10 seconds.

It will be interesting to see how the R15+ handles the braking zones and the Porsche curves, as it was painfully slow through the twisty section of Spa. Peugeot has experience with its lowdownforce bodywork at Le Mans, Audi doesn't. The question will be can they find the balance of the car in time for the race on Saturday. Last year they didn't find the balance until Sunday mourning and by then it was too late

This year I dont think anybody will have enough of a speed advantage to overcome big setbacks. Any delayed pitstops will most likely mean a lost race to which ever car. I'm afraid we may see a 2008 race where all the factory diesels sweep the top spots

However the driver lineup of the #2 and #3 Peugeot is extremely quick and there are no holes among the six. The former single seater drivers may still be suspect to over driving the car, or coming into contact with traffic, though. But in the end I do prefer Peugeot's 9 drivers over Audi's 9. Audi pulled the plug on the Werner/Biela/Pirro Audi too quickly I think. The new young guns that have replaced them have had far too many accidents in recent years...

It will be interesting to see if the Peugeots have any modifications to '09 Le Mans aero at scrutineering. Also there may be some Sony/Gran Turismo sponsorship on the factory 908s this year instead of Microsoft/360, according to a report

I think this year there is a very good chance the cars could approach 400 laps if the weather cooperates. In 2008 they were on pace for over 400 laps until the rain. Last year only 382 laps were completed, but about 90 minutes were spent under the safety car and the slowest Peugeot was the only Peugeot to run trouble free. And by the speeds at Spa lap times should be quicker.

There is a very real chance that a GT2 car might finish ahead of any GT1 car.

One last thing, does anyone know if Peugeot is bringing brand new cars to Le Mans, or are they using the same cars from Spa/Sebring/2009?