Marc Gene escaped serious injury following a high speed crash during testing for the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday.
Gene was on a quick lap in the No. 7 Peugeot when he lost control in the second part of the Porsche Curves, spinning and flipping across the track before hitting the wall backside first.
Medical crews treated Gene on the scene before he was transported to the infield medical centre where a determination was made to send him to the local hospital.
Initial reports suggested he had suffered a broken toe and a badly bruised elbow but team officials say he has a hairline fracture and could be released to compete in 10 days time.
The same cannot be said for the car, which is a write off, prompting Peugeot to ask race organizers if they can use one of their other cars for qualifying and the race rather than attempt to re-build the car in 10 days.
Canadian F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve is one of three drivers on the No. 7 team with Gene and Nicolas Minassian.
The good news for Peugeot was that the No. 8 car driven by Stephane Sarrazin, Alexander Wurz and Pedro Lamy finished atop the time charts, ahead of the No. 9 Peugeot which was driven by Franck Montagny, Ricardo Zonta and Christian Klien.
Rival Audi prevented a top three sweep by positioning itself as the third fastest car, just 37-1000ths of a second behind the No. 9 car.
The No. 7 car finished fourth quickest despite the accident.
The No.1 Audi of Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish ended up 10th in constantly changing conditions throughout the eight hour test.
Gene's crash was one of two on the day. GT 2 driver Tracy Krohn in the No. 83 Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT spun and crashed into the wall at the pit entrance. He too escaped serious injury but the car was extensively damaged and may not be ready in time for qualification.
The quickest of the non-diesel powered cars in the LM P1 class were the Pescarolo Sport Judds, which finished 6th and seventh. However they were 5.5 secs a lap slower that the 5th placed Diesel Audi.
In LM P2 the new Porsche RS Spyders did not show their speed straightaway but it didn't take long for them to get to the front of their class and stay there. At the end of the day they did lead LM P2 with the # 34 van Merksteijn Motorsport ahead of the #31 Team Essex car. However the #32 Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S was only 0.184 secs behind them.
In LM GT1 the leading #009 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 finished ahead of the #50 Larbre Competition Saleen S7R. Then the two Corvettes were 3rd and 4th . The Corvette team did this last year only to show that they were very quick in race trim.
In LM GT2 the fastest car was the #82 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT and was ahead of the #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3 RSR and third was #97 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 430 GT. This would seem to indicate that the Porsches will have a battle on their hands when it comes to the race since they are outnumbered by the Ferraris.