Chrysler clean-up at Homestead

However, for the first time this season, victory did not go to the Oreca team.

Paul Belmondo Racing claimed their first win for Chrysler Viper, driven by Belmondo, Clérico and Atapattu.

The Belmondo Racing Viper ran in the top four throughout the race, and beat the leading Oreca out of the pits in the final pit stop.

Clérico gradually increased his lead in the final hour.

Team owner and driver Paul Belmondo was ecstatic, 'We won the first race of the French Championship at the beginning of the year.

'That was good, but to win in the FIA GT Championship against all the other Vipers is something better.'

Second place for Oreca's Wendlinger and Beretta was enough to guarantee them the Drivers' Championship, giving Oreca their third successive FIA GT title.

'It feels good, because if you take part in a championship, your goal is to win it,' Wendlinger commented.

'I'm very happy to win the title for a second time,' Beretta added.

The Belmondo team benefited from the misfortunes of the normally ultra-reliable Oreca team.

Wendlinger, who started from pole, had a puncture during the first hour, and had to endure a slow lap to get back to the pits.

Beretta took over the Viper and regained the lead, but was later held up in the pits during a safety car period.

Second place looked certain for the second Oreca car, driven by Belloc and Donohue.

This result, which would have kept Belloc's championship hopes alive, slipped away from them when the car ran out of fuel two laps from the end of the race.

'It wasn't our day today,' Belloc commented.

They were classified fourth.

Third place went to the Chamberlain Motorsport line-up of Vosse, Pompidou and Hugenholtz, with fifth and sixth going to the two Freisinger Porsches - the first time the team has had both cars in the points.

First of the American cars running in the Invitational class was the Porsche 911 GT2 driven by Larry Schumacher, John O'Steen and Cort Wagner, which finished seventh.

'It was a good result for our first time here at Homestead,' Schumacher said.