Pirro and Biela Clinch Title

The Champion Racing Audi duo took a convincing victory in the event beating the Chris Dyson and Guy Smith's Dyson Racing Lola by 12 laps.

Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen finished third overall and won the GT1 class in their Corvette Racing C6-R for the second straight year, beating the onslaught of Aston Martin. The DBR9 of David Brabham, Darren Turner and Jonny Kane finished fourth.

Drama occurred at the first corner on the opening lap when pole-sitter Hayanri Shimoda's Zytek, James Weaver's Dyson and Lehto's Audi collided. The Japanese driver retired on the spot, Englishman Weaver led the opening lap but pitted with accident damage while Sebring and Le Mans race victors Lehto and Marco Werner recovered from 29th position and a 40-minute pit-stop for repairs to take seventh overall, third in class.

"All we had to do was keep it on the track," said Pirro. "I want to thank our mechanics for a great job. Winning this championship is an absolute dream."

"For us, it's not so easy with such a big lead," Biela said. "Sometimes it's a little bit easier when there's a lot of competition. You're not concentrating on not making mistakes, but having to overtake and keep them behind you. Our guys did a brilliant job. Finally we won it. When we came to Audi this season, all we wanted to do was win. We didn't think we could win here then, but we did it."

Result of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta:

Pos    Drivers                             Make                  Class Laps
 1.    Pirro/Biela                         Audi R8               P1    394
 2.    Dyson/Smith                         Lola EX257/AER        P1    382
 3.    Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen             Corvette C6-R         GT1   379
 4.    Brabham/Turner/Kane                 Aston Martin DB9      GT1   378
 5.    Field/Halliday/Field                Lola B05/40/AER       P2    375
 6.    Borcheller/Mowlem/Kelleners         Saleen S7R            GT1   373
 7.    Lehto/Werner                        Audi R8               P1    372
 8.    Bertolini/de Simone/Babini          Maserati MC12         GT1   371
 9.    Stanton/Long/Bergmeister            Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2   364
10.    Baas/Collard/Tiemann                Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2   363
11.    Kox/Lamy/Enge                       Aston Martin DB9      GT1   359
12.    Fellows/O'Connell/Papis             Corvette C6-R         GT1   357
13.    van Overbeek/Fogarty/Law            Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2   356
14.    Bach/Cosmo/Robinson                 Courage C-65/Mazda    P2    354
15.    Lewis/Willman                       R&S MRK III C         P1    350
16.    Johnson/Woodman/Forgeois            Lola B2K/40 AER       P2    350
17.    Bernhard/Dumas                      Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2   349
18.    Henzler/Rockenfeller/Jensen         Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2   343
19.    Jackson/Sugden/Jonsson              Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2   324
20.    Weickardt/Rugolo/Belloc             Dodge Viper           GT1   304
21.    Franchitti/Sellers/Jeannette        Panoz Esperante GTLM  GT2   258
22.    Cawley/Burgess/Keen                 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2   253
23.    Bennett/Barazi/Julian               Courage C-65 AER      P2    225
24.    Gue/McMurry/Bucknum                 Courage C-65/AER      P2    197
25.    Binnie/Hancock/Timpany              Lola B05/42           P2    195
26.    Weaver/Leitzinger/Wallace           Lola EX257/AER        P1    164
27.    Auberlen/Liddell/Maxwell            Panoz Esperante GTLM  GT2    90
28.    Pechnik/Neiman/Murry                Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   GT2    89
29.    Van der Steur/Devlin/van der Steur  Lola B2K/40 AER       P2      7
30.    Shimoda/Chilton                     Zytek 04S             P1      0