Audi take titles with Silverstone win

Accidents for both the pace-setting Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs in an incident-packed series finale meant that Alexandre Premat and Mike Rockenfeller were crowned champions at their first attempt at the European-based five-race endurance series.

For the French manufacturer it was a heart-breaking day that never looked like going their way from the very start.

Nicolas Minassian - the LMP1 championship leader coming in to the event along with co-driver Marc Gene - was lucky to survive unscathed from a high-speed accident on the Hangar Straight that eliminated his car from the race.

Then having led in the early stages, Stephane Sarrazin clashed with Capello on the re-start following the safety car period for the Minassian shunt, wrecking the No.8 Peugeot's race as the resultant repairs cost the team eight laps in the pits.

All the drama allowed the Charouz Racing System team to take a season-best second place with the ever-improving Lola Aston Martin, which was a well-deserved reward for Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz, who punched above their weight all day, and indeed all season.

Another team to receive a welcome podium finish was Pescarolo Sport, with Jean Christophe Bouillion and Romain Dumas taking advantage of a late stop-and-go penalty for Premat's fourth-placed, championship-winning Audi.

For Audi, the race went completely to plan.

McNish said before the start that he aimed to put the faster 908s under pressure and force mistakes from the Peugeot drivers and that is exactly what he did.

As Sarrazin moved into the lead from pole, McNish tried to go around the outside of Minassian, the two may have touched but it was certainly close, and the Frenchman spun at Copse.

For a couple of laps McNish chased Sarrazin hard before the former WRC driver began to pull away. Behind Minassian, who was fired up, quickly began to pick has way back through the field.

By the time the first pitstops occurred the order was Sarrazin, McNish, Premat and Minassian, with Mucke fifth.

But after the pitstops a strange thing happened. Perhaps for the first time this season, the Audis began to lap as quickly as the Pugs in the dry - which McNish put down to an adjustment in tyre pressures. And that's when things started to go wrong for the French cars.

Committed as ever Minassian, still in full-fight mode, clipped the back of the IMSA GT2 Porsche on the exit of Maggotts and got briefly airborne as his car careered in to the barrier. And just like that Minassian, and Marc Gene's (who never even got to drive) dreams of the title were over.

Then came the safety car and the subesquent shunt between Capello and Sarrazin, which took place behind Rockenfeller who had already assumed the lead.

Sarrazin blamed Capello for the shunt, the Italian saw it differently, and considered the Frenchman had been too aggressive.

The No.8 Peugeot was badly damaged and dropped out of the top 30 - it finished 19th.

Capello only had a puncture and quickly he and McNish worked hard to fight their way back into the race. Significantly quicker than anyone other than their teammates, it was only a matter of time before the Audis were one and two on the lapchart.

Then towards the end of the race, Premat brought the No.2 car into the pits trailing smoke. Audi repaired the damage, but the lead was gone.

Afterwards, Capello, a three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner, described the victory, the No.1 car's first of the LMS season, as one of his best.

"It was one of the greatest, because after what happened at the re-start with contact with the Peugeot, I thought our race was gone. But we fought back and it was amazing!"

The battle for the LMP2 victory was significantly less dramatic. Newly crowned champion Jos Vertsappen and his teammate and team boss Peter van Merksteijn dominated the race from pole.

Horag Racing inherited second late-on. Fredy Lienhard, Didier Theys and Jan Lammers were always seemingly headed for a podium, but they jumped one step higher after late disappointment for Embassy Racing.

The Zytek car was brought in late with a small technical issue and then receiving a penalty for passing a red light at the pit exit, denying Warren Hughes and Jonny Kane a certain podium finish.

After a hard battle for the most of the race with the Spartak Lamborghini, Tomas Enge and Antonio Garcia took victory in GT1 for Team Modena Aston Martin.

It wasn't enough to clinch the title though, which went to Patrice Goueslard and Guillaume Moreau for Luc Alphand's Corvette squad, who finished third by Peter Kox and Romain Rusinov.

Robert Bell became the first driver to win back-to-back titles in LMS GT2 with an accomplished win alongside Virgo Motorsport co-driver Jaime Melo.

Second in the championship and second in the race were Felbermayr Porsche's Marc Lieb and Alex Davison, while third was the Farnbacher Ferrari of Dirk Werner and Lars Nielsen.

Pos  Cl    Drivers                      Car                   Time
 1.  LMP1  Capello/Mcnish               Audi R10 TDI          5:40:24.862
 2.  LMP1  Mucke/Charouz                Lola Aston Martin       +  2 laps
 3.  LMP1  Dumas/Boullion               Pescarolo Judd          +  4 laps
 4.  LMP1  Premat/Rockenfeller          Audi R10 TDI            +  4 laps
 5.  LMP2  Van Merksteijn/Verstappen    Porsche RS Spyder       +  4 laps
 6.  LMP1  Campbell-Walter/Hall         Creation Aim            +  4 laps
 7.  LMP1  Primat/Tinseau               Pescarolo Judd          +  5 laps
 8.  LMP1  Ortelli/Ayari                Courage-Oreca Judd      +  6 laps
 9.  LMP2  Lienhard/Theys/Lammers       Porsche RS Spyder       +  8 laps
10.  LMP2  Amaral/Pla                   Lola AER                + 10 laps
11.  LMP2  Erdos/Newton                 Lola MG                 + 11 laps
12.  LMP2  Elgaard/Nielsen              Porsche RS Spyder       + 11 laps
13.  LMP2  Hughes/Kane                  WF01 Zytek              + 11 laps
14.  LMP1  Barbosa/Ickx/Hollings        Pescarolo Judd          + 12 laps
15.  LMP2  Ojjeh/Gosselin/Sharpe        Zytek 07S               + 12 laps
16.  LMP1  Nicolet/Hein                 Pescarolo Judd          + 12 laps
17.  LMP1  Panis/Lapierre               Courage-Oreca Judd      + 12 laps
18.  LMP2  De Pourtales/Noda            Lola Mazda              + 13 laps
19.  LMP1  Lamy/Sarrazin                Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP     + 13 laps
20.  GT1   Garcia/Enge                  Aston Martin DBR9       + 17 laps
21.  GT1   Rusinov/Kox                  Lamborghini             + 18 laps
22.  GT1   Goueslard/Moreau             Corvette C6.R           + 21 laps
23.  LMP2  Ragues/Lahaye                Pescarolo Judd          + 21 laps
24.  GT1   Hardman/Leventis/Turner      Aston Martin DBR9       + 22 laps
25.  LMP1  Nakano/Valles                Epsilon Euskadi Judd    + 23 laps
26.  GT2   Bell/Melo                    Ferrari F430 GT         + 23 laps
27.  GT2   Lieb/Davison                 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR     + 24 laps
28.  GT2   Ehret/Kaffer/Beltoise        Ferrari F430 GT         + 26 laps
29.  GT2   Coronel/Kelleners/Vasiliev   Spyker C8 Laviolette    + 27 laps
30.  GT2   Ried/Felbermayr/Felbermayr   Porsche 997 GT3 RSR     + 33 laps
31.  GT2   Kutemann/Basso /Gilbert      Ferrari F430 GT         + 35 laps
32.  LMP2  Rostan/Petersen/Lueders      Radical AER             + 35 laps
33.  GT2   Van Der Merwe/Sugden/Outzen  Aston Martin Vantage    + 36 laps
34.  GT2   Chiesa/Leuenberger           Spyker C8 Laviolette    + 37 laps
35.  LMP2  Manning/Foster               WF01 Zytek              + 39 laps
36.  GT2   Aucott/Daoudi                Ferrari F430 GT         + 50 laps

Not Classified:

     Cl    Drivers                      Car                   Laps
     LMP2  Barazi /Vergers/Rees         Zytek 07S             162
     GT2   Alandras/Lecourt             Porsche 997 GT3 RSR   91
     LMP1  Simpson/Lewis                Creation Aim          89
     LMP2  Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia    Lola Judd             75
     LMP1  Burguenol/De Castro          Epsilon Euskadi Judd  59
     GT2   Daniels/Bamford/Griffin      Porsche 997 GT3 RSR   55
     GT2   Nielsenk/Werner              Porsche 997 GT3 RSR   51
     LMP1  Gene/Minassian               Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP   45
     GT2   Narac/Lietz                  Porsche 997 GT3 RSR   38
     LMP2  Salini/Salini/Gommendy       WR Zytek              3