Despite claiming two...

Despite claiming two wins out of two in its preparations for next month’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Peugeot is playing down its chances of beating reigning champion Audi. Having claimed victory on its debut at Monza in April, the French squad’s diesel 908 won again in Valencia, Spain.

But the team’s second car retired with clutch problems, and technical director Bruno Famin admitted there are still gremlins to sort out. “It’s clear we have a number of problems to resolve, and that’s why we’re not ready for Le Mans,” he said.

AFTER failing to make the grid at Silverstone’s opening round of the FIA GT3 Championship, Jaguar’s XKR racer will now debut at the end of next month at Monza. Engine problems have plagued the car’s development, yet those behind the project are confident. “It was a shame not to be at Silverstone, but we will be ready for Monza,” vowed team boss Richard Lloyd.

BRAZIL’S Helio Castroneves will start from pole in next weekend’s Indianapolis 500. The Brazilian, gunning for a third Indy win,

set a four-lap average speed of 225.817mph in his Team Penske Dallara-Honda. British hopes Dario Franchitti, Dan Wheldon and Darren Manning will line up in third, sixth and 15th when the flag drops on Sunday 27 May.

BRUNO Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton, moved a step nearer to F1 with his first GP2 win at Barcelona. It was only his third start in the grand prix feeder series, won last year by Lewis Hamilton. In Saturday’s feature race, the 23-year-old used an early pitstop strategy and fought off a late charge from Timo Glock. But German Glock extended his series lead by winning Sunday’s shorter sprint race.