Penske take one-two in Utah

Gil de Ferran marked his return to motor racing with an outstanding third place on the de Ferran Motorsport Acura's debut, despite having to start last because his spin in qualifying forced him to change tyres before the race.

Audi pushed Penske hard for victory, only for both R10 TDis to tangle with GT2 cars within minutes of each other in the closing stages.

The race got off to a frenetic start, as the three LMP1 cars made the most of their power to blast through from sixth, eighth and 11th on the grid into the top three positions, with Audi duo Marco Werner and Frank Biela leading Intersport Lola's Jon Field.

Field was not content with third, and incredibly the 52-year-old privateer managed to sneak his petrol-powered Lola ahead of both factory diesel Audis during the opening lap jostling.

He enjoyed ten minutes of glory at the head of the pack before Biela and Werner pushed him back to third, and his bout of giant-killing then came to an end with a spin a few laps later as he tried to fend off Luis Diaz's Fernandez Acura.

The Audis were among the cars to pit under the yellow caused by Field's incident, allowing pole-winner Bernhard back to the front.

But a chaotic restart saw Bernhard come under simultaneous attack from Diaz and Highcroft Acura's Scott Sharp. While Diaz slipped through into the lead, Sharp's move ended in a spin that took him into the path of Christian Fittipaldi's Andretti-Green Acura, damaging both cars and prompting another yellow.

Most of those who had stayed out during the previous caution duly took the opportunity to pit, but Diaz and de Ferran - who had made rapid progress from the back - remained on track and held first and second ahead of the Audis at the restart.

Although Werner passed de Ferran for second, he was unable to get around Diaz, who held the lead until he finally pitted after one hour and 10 minutes.

That put the Audis back into first and second, with a comfortable advantage over Bernhard and his Penske teammate Maassen, the latter having recovered well following an early trip off the road.

Werner had pulled six seconds clear of teammate Biela, but the Audis swapped positions at their second stops when Werner's co-driver Lucas Luhr stalled and then lost time on his out-lap as the on-board computer systems reset themselves.

Bernhard stayed out for another 12 minutes before stopping and handing over to Dumas with an hour to go - Penske ensuring that, unlike Audi, they could make it to the flag without a third pitstop.

Dumas therefore led going into the final half-hour, as Audi's challenge fell apart in the closing stages due to two incidents in traffic.

First Luhr tagged the LG Chevrolet while chasing the Penske Porsche and sustained a cut tyre, falling to seventh, then moments later Biela's co-driver Emmanuele Pirro was forced to retire from second place and the LMP1 class lead when Ford GT driver David Robertson turned into him, causing race-ending damage for the Audi.

That left Dumas with a comfortable 30-second advantage over teammate Long, while de Ferran's co-driver Simon Pagenaud won a battle with Dyson Porsche's Marino Franchitti for third and then almost caught Long for second.

The de Ferran team had chosen to make a later final stop than their rivals, giving Pagenaud the chance to charge past both Luhr and Dumas and briefly lead the race before pitting and dropping back.

The Fernandez car dropped out of contention for the win when Adrian Fernandez tangled with Butch Leitzinger as the Dyson driver rejoined after a mistake. A slow final stop then cost the Acura more time, but Fernandez still brought it home fifth.

Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen got ahead of Corvette teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta at the first stops and went on to take the GT1 win, while Wolf Henzler and Jorg Bergmeister had an easy run to GT2 victory for Flying Lizard Porsche after the fortuitous timing of the first yellow handed them a one-lap advantage over all their class rivals.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                    Car                   Time
 1.  P2   Dumas/Bernhard             Porsche RS Spyder     2h45:34.653
 2.  P2   Maassen/Long               Porsche RS Spyder      +   22.656
 3.  P2   de Ferran/Pagenaud         Acura ARX-01B          +   26.839
 4.  P2   Leitzinger/Franchitti      Porsche RS Spyder      +   46.121
 5.  P2   Fernandez/Diaz             Acura ARX-01b          + 1:11.950
 6.  P2   Dyson/Smith                Porsche RS Spyder      +    1 lap
 7.  P1   Luhr/Werner                Audi R10 TDI           +    1 lap
 8.  P2   Herta/Fittipaldi           Acura ARX-01b          +   2 laps
 9.  P2   Bonilla/Devlin             Mazda Lola B07-46      +   3 laps
10.  GT1  O'Connell/Magnussen        Corvette C6.R          +   8 laps
11.  GT1  Gavin/Beretta              Corvette C6.R          +   8 laps
12.  P1   Field/Dayton/Berry         Lola B06/10 AER        +   8 laps
13.  GT2  Bergmeister/Henzler        Porsche 911 GT3 RSR    +   9 laps
14.  GT2  van Overbeek/Pilet         Porsche 911 GT3 RSR    +  10 laps
15.  GT2  Werner/Basseng             Porsche 911 GT3 RSR    +  11 laps
16.  GT2  Farnbacher/Muller          Ferrari 430 GT         +  11 laps
17.  GT2  Milner/Sutherland          Panoz Esperante        +  12 laps
18.  GT2  Neiman/Law                 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR    +  12 laps
19.  GT2  Gigliotti/Peterson/Curran  Riley Corvette C6      +  13 laps
20.  GT2  Brix/Friesacher            Ferrari 430 GT         +  13 laps
21.  P1   Biela/Pirro                Audi R10 TDI           +  17 laps
22.  GT2  Jeannette/Mowlem           Ferrari 430 GT         +  17 laps
23.  GT2  Carrapatoso/Pastorelli     Porsche 911 GT3 RSR    +  17 laps
24.  GT2  Swartzbaugh/Stanton        Porsche 911 GT3 RSR    +  19 laps
25.  P2   Brabham/Sharp              Acura ARX-01b          +  26 laps
26.  GT2  Robertson/Murry/Robertson  Doran Ford GT Mk.VII   +  34 laps
27.  GT2  Salo/Melo                  Ferrari 430 GT         +  36 laps
28.  GT2  Feinberg/Hall              Dodge Viper Comp       +  61 laps
29.  GT2  Drayson/Cocker             Aston Martin Vantage   +  69 laps
30.  GT2  Tafel/Figge                Ferrari 430 GT         +  71 laps