1-2 for Audi at Laguna Seca
Audi finished the American Le Mans Series as they began it with victory for their R10 TDI, with the second R10 TDI following it home in second place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Allan McNish and Dindo Capello took Audi's eighth victory of the season, and the R10 TDI's seventh, ahead of teammates Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, with the Creation of Nicolas Minassian and Harold Primat also finishing on the lead lap in third place.
"There is no way we could have made that number of laps without the diesel," said McNish . "The team gave me all the info I required in terms of distances required to make sure we could get to the end. I'll tell you it was right at the limit."
Lucas Luhr and Romain Dumas finished fourth overall in their Porsche RS Spyder, one place ahead of teammates Sascha Maassen and Bernhard. The result meant that Luhr and Maassen ended the season in a tie, sharing the class championship. Luhr was pressing McNish late in the race before a spin saw him take a more conservative run to the end.
GT1 saw victory for the Aston Martin DB9 of Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy ahead of the Corvettes of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin, and Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell, with the second Aston of Darren Turner and Tomas Enge. All four cars led the class at one point, the quartet finishing the race eighth through to eleventh.
Beretta and Gavin's result saw them claim their second consecutive GT1 title, with Corvette Racing taking the teams' title as well.
Finally, in GT2, Mika Salo and Stephane Ortelli in their Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta won the class but it was Jorg Bergmeister in the Porsche 911 RSR he shared with Patrick Long who claimed the GT2 title. Bergmeister and Long had been leading their class in the closing laps before the Ferrari passed them ten minutes before the end.
Pos Cl. Drivers Car Laps 1. P1 Capello/McNish Audi R10 TDI Power 159 2. P1 Pirro/Biela Audi R10 TDI Power 159 3. P1 Minassian/Primat Creation CA06/H-01 Judd 159 4. P2 Dumas/Luhr Porsche RS Spyder 158 5. P2 Maassen/Bernhard Porsche RS Spyder 158 6. P1 Weaver/Dyson Lola B06/10 AER 158 7. P1 Johansson/Mowlem Zytek 06S 157 8. GT1 Sarrazin/Lamy Aston Martin DB9 153 9. GT1 Beretta/Gavin Corvette C6.R 153 10. GT1 Fellows/O'Connell Corvette C6.R 152 11. GT1 Turner/Enge Aston Martin DB9 152 12. P J Field/Halliday/ Lola B05/40 AER 151 C Field 13. GT2 Salo/Ortelli Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta 149 14. GT2 Bergmeister/Long Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 149 15. P2 Bach/Cosmo Courage C65 Mazda 148 16. GT2 Rockenfeller/Tiemann Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 148 17. GT2 Law/Neiman Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 145 18. GT2 Milner/Jeannette Panoz Esperante GTLM 145 19. GT2 van Overbeek/Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 141 20. GT2 Auberlen/Hand BMW E46 M3 139 21. GT2 Bertolini/Mediani Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta 139 22. P2 Moseley/Vergers Radical SR9 AER 134 23. P1 Lewis/Willman/Graham Lola EX257 AER 127 24. P2 Devlin/Pecorari/ Radical SR 9 AER 100 Van der Steur 25. GT2 Sellers/James/Marks BMW E46 M3 80 26. P2 Theys/Lienhard Sr Lola B05/40 Judd 78 27. GT2 Brabham/Maxwell Panoz Esperante GTLM 76
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