Pescarolo pair storm to podium.

Harold Primat and Christophe Tinseau took a superb last-gasp podium finish at Monza as the Pescarolo Sport team emerged as the leading petrol runner in the second round of the Le Mans Series.

In an action packed event at the famous Italian venue, Tinseau left it late to dive past the Creation of Stuart Hall at the Rettifilo chicane on the last lap to steal the final position on the podium from the young Briton.

Starting from 13th on the grid, the Primat took the start of the race and made strong progress through the field in the early stages. He was ninth when he handed over to Tinseau at the team's first pit stop, and the Frenchman continued his team-mate's progress, climbing steadily to sixth place overall. Once again the Pescarolo 01-Judd proved its reliability, as Primat and Tinseau continued to scale the field while others suffered mechanical misfortune, and Primat ended a fine second stint within touching distance of the fifth-placed #15 Creation.

The final hour of the race was thrilling, with Tinseau and Hall battling wheel-to-wheel around the high-speed circuit. What was a fight for sixth became a fight for the podium in the dying stages, after accidents for the sister #16 Pescarolo 01 and the #5 Courage Oreca dropped them out of contention.

With Tinseau permanently glued to the back of the Creation, British driver Hall looked to have clung on to third place on the last lap, but Tinseau used all of his experience to dive down the inside into the Rettifilo chicane and squeeze his way safely past despite there being slight contact between the two.

"I was a bit faster than Stuart, but not much, and every time I caught him I was blocked by traffic," he said. "On the last lap though, he got baulked a little bit by the Lamborghini and I decided to go for it. I was alongside and he turned in and touched me, but as he started to spin, I dived to the other side and got past.

"During my first stint and Harold's second we tried the hard compound tyres and weren't as quick, which was a slight mistake, but otherwise this performance was faultless. I'm so happy about this result because we're not yet running the 2008 aero package which the 16 car has. We hope to have it for the next round at Spa and, when we do, I think we can be even quicker."

Primat was equally pleased with the podium, which came in a strong LMP1 field in the second race of the year.

"What can you say after a race like that?" he said. "We started 13th, behind two Peugeots, two Audis, a Lola Aston Martin and a whole host of other quick cars, so we never dreamed we could get a podium. To get one, therefore, is absolutely unbelievable and once again we've proved our consistency and the Pescarolo has shown its reliability.

"We were desperate for a podium this year, but this is the strongest LMP1 grid we've ever seen and so we weren't sure it was possible. To stand alongside the big boys from Peugeot and Audi is a very special moment for me, Christophe and the entire Pescarolo Sport team."