Peugeot is down to two factory cars within the first three hours of the Le Mans 24 Hours, thanks to the retirement of the pole-winning No. 3 car with suspension trouble.
The Sebastien Bourdais/Pedro Lamy/Simon Pagenaud 908 was running second behind the sister No. 2 car when it suffered a suspension failure just under two and a half hours into the race. Lamy tried to get the car back to the pits, but had to drive it all the way from Tertre Rouge with damaged suspension and smoke pouring off the right-front tire where it was pressed against the bodywork. By the time the car had returned to the pits, the broken suspension had caused irreparable damage to the car's tub.
Peugeot Sport boss Olivier Quesnel confirmed that the car has had to be retired, leaving Stephane Sarrazin leading in the No. 2 car, 10 seconds clear of Anthony Davidson in the No. 1 and 20sec clear of Nicolas Lapierre in the No. 4 ORECA 908.