McNish leads Audi 1-2 at Portland

Such a result looked unlikely in the first hour as Guy Smith pulled away from the field in the Dyson Lola, having taken the lead from polesitting teammate Butch Leitzinger at the start.

Pirro dived past Leitzinger for second on lap eight but was unable to reduce the eight second advantage that Smith had opened up, or to shake off Leitzinger.

A tangle between LMP2 leader Romain Dumas (Penske Porsche) and the Highcroft Lola of Duncan Dayton after 50 minutes caused the only full course yellow of the race and brought Audi back into contention.

Dyson reclaimed their one-two in the subsequent pit stops, with Chris Dyson now in the Smith car. But at the restart Biela (in for Pirro) immediately leapt from third to first, while Leitzinger picked up a puncture as the pack jostled and would lose three laps while repairs were effected.

Capello had slipped back in fourth in the opening stint as he struggled with unpredictable handling after some first lap wheel-banging. Fresh tyres cured the problem, and although Capello's co-driver McNish took the restart in fifth, within just five minutes he had charged into the lead of the race.

Even Biela proved unable to keep up as McNish pulled away and headed for a dominant victory.

"The key was keeping in contention until we had an opportunity," said McNish. "It was very difficult at the start, Dindo's hit obviously upset the balance quite a lot and we just had to keep pace and keep working."

Dyson steadily fell away in third but resisted the chasing LMP2 Porsche of Lucas Luhr until the final pit stops, when Penske's late-stopping strategy allowed Luhr to slip ahead. But with just 14 minutes remaining the Porsche dropped out with apparent engine failure, handing third overall back to Dyson (who survived a minor puncture a few minutes later) and giving Intersport Lola pair Jon Field and Liz Halliday an unlikely LMP2 victory.

Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin dominated GT1 for Chevrolet. Aston Martin's Pedro Lamy briefly challenged for the class lead but was yet another puncture victim, and also received a penalty for a pit stop procedural violation.

Darren Turner and Tomas Enge (gamely racing despite breaking a wrist in a mountain bike accident during the week) managed to split the Chevrolets in second after a slow final pit stop for Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell, who had looked set to complete a team one-two.

The Risi Ferrari earned a remarkable GT2 class win, despite Jamie Melo colliding with Jorg Bergmeister's Petersen White Lightning Porsche at the start. While Bergmeister escaped unscathed and took the class lead, Melo had to pit with a puncture and dropped to last.

But excellent strategy and the Risi package's sheer speed allowed Melo and co-driver Mika Salo to charge back through the field and pass Bergmeister's co-driver Pat Long for the lead with 19 minutes left.

Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen completed the class podium in their PTG BMW.

Results

Pos  Cl   Driver                        Make              Laps
 1.  P1   R.Capello, A.McNish           Audi R10 TDI       142
 2.  P1   F.Biela, E.Pirro              Audi R10 TDI       142
 3.  P1   C.Dyson, G.Smith              Lola B06/10 AER    140
 4.  P1   J.Weaver, B.Leitzinger        Lola B06/10 AER    138
 5.  P2   C.Field, L.Halliday, J.Field  Lola B05/40 AER    135
 6.  P1   D.Dayton, A.Wallace           Lola EX257 AER     134
 7.  GT1  O.Gavin, O.Beretta            Corvette C6-R      133
 8.  P1   C.McMurry, B.Willman          Lola EX257 AER     133
 9.  GT1  T.Enge, D.Turner              Aston Martin DB9   133
10.  GT1  R.Fellows, J.O'Connell        Corvette C6-R      132
11.  GT1  P.Lamy, S.Sarrazin            Aston Martin DB9   131
12.  P2   S.Maassen, L.Luhr             Porsche RS Spyder  128
13.  GT2  J.Melo, M.Salo                Ferrari 430 GT     128
14.  GT2  J.Bergmeister, P.Long         Porsche 911 GT3    128
15.  GT2  B.Auberlen, J.Hand            BMW E46 M3         128
16.  GT2  J.Van Overbeek, W.Henzler     Porsche 911 GT3    127
17.  GT2  D.Law, S.Neiman               Porsche 911 GT3    126
18.  GT2  G.Jeannette, T.Milner         Panoz Esperante    126
19.  GT2  M.Rockenfeller, R.Liddell     Porsche 911 GT3    126
20.  GT2  J.Marks, B.Sellers            BMW E46 M3         126
21.  GT2  S.Maxwell, D.Brabham          Panoz Esperante    125
22.  P2   T.Bernhard, R.Dumas           Porsche RS Spyder  116