Jacques Villeneuve dug deep into the memory box to explain one of the reasons why his #7 Peugeot had been caught and passed for the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Canadian, who had been at the wheel of the leading 908 HDi FAP when rain arrived over the Circuit de la Sarthe, recalled the man chasing him down, Tom Kristensen, as always having been a rapid pedaller in inclement conditions, and his fears were proved when the Dane took the #2 Audi back to the head of the field with dawn approaching.
The rain signalled a change in fortunes for Peugeot, as not only the #2 Audi, but also the #3 gained a place at the expense of the French marque. It wasn't only the rain hampering the 908s, however, as all three started Sunday parked in their garages with what appeared to be smoke emanating from the rear end. Explanations from within the camp, however, later revealed that dry ice was being pumped into the cars to help offset minor overheating concerns, while the radiators were also cleaned out.
"Despite losing so much time, it was an interesting challenge so long as we had a target to aim for, such as the Audi ahead of us," Pedro Lamy commented after a night-time stint in the recovering #8 car, "But then we lost more time with our electrical problem, and fell back a few places again, and that was very hard on morale."
The #7 completed its 200th lap at 3.04am with Villeneuve at the wheel, but just 50 minutes later was being pushed into its garage to have its radiators cleaned. Held up by the red light at the exit of the pit-lane, the Canadian had a premonition of things to come as the #2 Audi swept into the lead, but the moment did not last long as Rinaldo Capello made a routine stop that promoted JV back to the front.
However, having pulled out a gap of over a minute, Villeneuve - and Peugeot - then saw the #7's fortunes take a dip as the first rain appeared at 4.12am.
