Capello and McNish take sixth win of 2000

The Audi driver started the race from pole, took the lead in the first hour of a double driving stint, then returned to the cockpit in the final hour to run out the victor by a staggering 21-lap margin in the R8 he shared with Rinaldo Capello and Brad Jones.

McNish's participation in the race had been in doubt almost until the cars took to the grid. Back pain forced him to sit out Saturday and most of Friday, then team-mate Capello crashed the car heavily in the race morning warm-up when a wheel came loose. The Scot only had to start the race and complete 25 laps in order to clinch the drivers' title.

"After Friday night, when I went to the hospital, I didn't expect to be driving the car," said McNish. "The team doctor prescribed rest, and that's what enabled me to complete more than the 25 laps I needed to."

Frank Biela surged past McNish at the start but the Scotsman took the lead in the first hour and quickly opened up a one minute gap over the sister car, which then fell out of contention when Emanuele Pirro crashed shortly before the three-hour mark.

It wasn't a good day for the rival Panoz marque: Jan Magnussen retired the new LMP007 with alternator problems after completing just two laps, while team-mates Johnny O'Connell and Hiroki Katoh could only manage 13th overall in an older Panoz chassis hobbled by brake problems.

The all-Australian crewed sister car of David Brabham, Jason Bright and Greg Murphy ran third for the first half of the race, but Murphy understeered into the wall during the third hour and lost 30 laps while the team made repairs. Bright also had a minor off later in the race, but the high rate of attrition allowed the car to finish third in class and ninth overall.

"The crowd here really turned it on for us," said Brabham. "Every time the car was fixed, the grandstand in front of the pits erupted."

Sportscar veteran Franz Konrad, with local guest driver Alan Heath and regular partner Charlie Slater, had a trouble-free run to second in their Lola, inheriting the position after the similar Rafanelli car of Didier de Radigues, Norman Simon and Mimmo Schiattarella dropped out in the final hour.

In GTS, the ORECA Chrysler Viper of Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy had only their team-mates Ni Amorim and Jean-Philippe Belloc to contend with for the class win. The two Vipers took third and fourth overall, a fitting end to Chrysler's factory participation in the GT class. The third-placed Chamberlain-entered Viper of Steven Watson, Milka Duno and Ray Lintott was a full 12 laps behind.

Beretta had already scored enough points to take his second successive drivers' championship.

"It's great to be back," said Wendlinger, whose injury-disrupted Formula One career ended at this circuit in 1995. "I started three Grands Prix here and never finished, so it's nice to win."

Dick Barbour Racing's Dirk Muller is the new GT champion. He and team-mate Lucas Luhr were pushed hard by PTG's fleet of three BMWs, led by Bill Auberlen, for the first two hours, but the Munich cars were later sidelined by mechanical problems. This allowed Muller and Luhr to finish fifth overall and win their class by eight laps from team-mates Christian Menzel, Randy Wars and John Graham.



1 A.McNish B Jones R.Capello Audi R8 225 laps
2 F.Konrad C.Slater A.Heath Konrad Lola + 21 laps
3 O.Beretta K.Wendlinger D.Dupuy ORECA Viper GTS + 23 laps
4 N.Amorim J-P.Belloc ORECA Viper GTS + 23 laps
5 L.Luhr D.Muller Dick Barbour Porsche 911 GT + 26 laps
6 C.Menzel R.Wars J.Graham Dick Barbour Porsche 911 GT + 34 laps
7 T.Borcheller A.Lazarro PTG BMW M3 GT + 34 laps
8 S.Watson R.Lintott M.Duno Chamberlain Viper GTS + 35 laps
9 D.Brabham J.Bright G.Murphy Panoz + 35 laps
10 B.Auberlen B.Cunningham N.Jonsson PTG BMW M3 GT + 35 laps