Audi takes one-two at Sebring

The R8 of Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emmanuel Pirro came home just 39.111s ahead of team-mates Allan McNish, Michele Alboreto and Rinaldo Capello.

"We proved we were the quicker car," said Kristensen, whose raw speed was evident during his epic stints around the notoriously rough Florida circuit.

BMW aces JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller finished third, with the sister V12 LMR driven by Bill Auberlen, Jean-Marc Gounon and Steve Soper fourth.

The Biela/Kristensen/Pirro Audi had looked the more dominant of the two R8s over the opening stages of the race, but brake problems put the sister car into the lead.

After bleeding the brakes on the lead Audi during the eighth hour of the race and fitting a new nose, the team was hit with a 20-second penalty for having too many people in the pitlane. That gave the McNish/Alboreto/Capello car the edge.

McNish put in an impressive triple sting during the twilight hours. Despite having only one headlight - a result of damage sustained earlier in the race - the Scot managed to fend off the chasing BMW of JJ Lehto, allowing Capello to take second place.

"The headlight wasn't a major problem for me," McNish said afterwards. "The track isn't dark, but it wasn't easy for slower cars to see us coming."

Both of the factory Panoz, which had started the race fifth and sixth on the grid, failed to finish after they suffered from mechanical problems.

The works Dodge Vipers finished one-two-three in the GTS class, with Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy taking the class win.

The Porsche GT3-R of Dirk Muller and Lucas Luhr took GT honours for Dick Barbour Racing.