All-Audi front row at Portland
Audi driver Rinaldo Capello secured pole position by the narrowest of margins for tomorrow's American Le Mans Series race at Portland. The Italian edged out team mate Frank Biela by just seven hundreths of a second as the Joest Racing-run R8s annexed the front row of the grid around the narrow, sweeping parkland road course

But while the Audis aim for their fourth straight ALMS victory, the lead factory Panoz Roadster of David Brabham fired a warning shot that things may well be closer in this race than they have been in recent weeks. The Australian was less than two tenths behind Capello's mark as the front-engined car made real progress from the free practice sessions to slash the Audi's advantage.
Capello, taking over qualfiying duties from team mate Allan McNish this weekend, also found his car much improved for the 20-minute afternoon session that counted. Through the four previous sessions the advantage had generally rested with Biela and Emanuele Pirro's sister car, as the No77 machine struggled slightly with marginal understeer on the treacherously slippery surface.
"We changed a lot from the practice sessions," explained Capello. "We had never really matched the speed of the sister car, so we basically copied its set-up and it was much better in qualifying. But the gap is so tiny, it really means very little."
While qualifying before a two and a half hour race is rarely crucial, the tight Portland track where overtaking is difficult did lend the qualifying session an extra significance. Brabham had tried his hardest to beat the Audis, and made a big leap forward from the practice sessions. "We thought maybe we could do it," he said, "but in the end it was just not quite enough.
Over half a second behind the leading trio, Johnny O'Connell planted the second Panoz on the outside of the second row, just ahead of the Rafanelli Lola-Judd team. Mimmo Schiattarella really pulled the stops out to grab fifth as the team enjoyed an upturn in fortunes, and beat Stefan Johansson's Reynard-Judd as the best privateer entry.
Series leaders JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller could manage no better than sixth place as the factory BMWs endured a torrid time. A lack of grip and traction was their main problem, with Finn Lehto commenting that "driving in the dry feels like driving in the wet for us, and there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it."
The final works entry, the lone Riley & Scott-run Cadillac of Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor, will start the race from ninth place as it makes its first ALMS start since Sebring in March.
Qualifying
1 Rinaldo Capello/Allan McNish Joest Audi R8 1m04.312s
2 Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro Joest Audi R8 1m04.387s
3 David Brabham/Jan Magnussen Panoz LMP1 Roadster S 1m04.503s
4 Johnny O'Connell/Hiroki Katoh Panoz LMP1 Roadster S 1m05.309s
5 Mimmo Schiattarella/Didier de Radigues Rafanelli Lola-Judd B2K/10 1m05.394s
6 JJ Lehto/Jorg Muller Schnitzer BMW V12 LMR 1m05.582s
7 Stefan Johansson/Guy Smith Johansson Reynard-Judd 2KQ 1m05.758s
8 Bill Auberlen/Jean-Marc Gounon Schnitzer BMW V12 LMR 1m05.940s
9 Max Angelelli/Wayne Taylor GM Racing Cadillac Northstar 1m06.993s
10 Jon Field/Rick Sutherland Intersport Lola-Judd B2K/10 1m07.273s
11 Mark Simo/Jim Matthews Johansson Reynard-Judd 2KQ 1m08.138s
* first named drivers qualified car
GT classes
With no factory Corvettes on hand at Portland this weekend, the works Oreca-run Dodge Vipers had a free run to first and second place in the GTS class qualifying. Championship leader Olivier Beretta had little difficulty in taking pole position, but the sister car of American David Donohue did well to end up just a couple of tenths in arrears.
The GT class battle was much tighter, although the Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R successfully managed to once again finish first and second in the final time sheets. Young German ace Dirk Muller took pole from team mate Sascha Maassen, but American Randy Pobst, who has won the last two rounds, pushed the duo hard in his similar Alex Job Racing car.
The best of the PTG BMW M3s was next up in the hands of Boris Said (filling in for the injured Hans Stuck), while Briton Johnny Mowlem hammered a good time out of the Pirelli-shod Team Skea Porsche to take sixth.
GTS
1 Olivier Beretta/Karl Wendlinger Oreca Dodge Viper GTS-R 1m12.321s
2 David Donohue/Tommy Archer Oreca Dodge Viper GTS-R 1m12.544s
3 Mike Fitzgerald/Vic Rice/Zak Brown Roock Porsche 911 GT2 1m14.467s
GT
1 Dirk Muller/Lucas Luhr Dick Barbour Porsche 911 GT3-R 1m15.155s
2 Sascha Maassen/Bob Wollek Dick Barbour Porsche 911 GT3-R 1m15.257s
3 Randy Pobst/Bruno Lambert Alex Job Porsche 911 GT3-R 1m15.269s

Allan McNish is aiming for gold at Portland
McNish and Capello take dramatic win in Portland

Latest news
How to be an ace engineer – GT racing expert Gary Davies
Winning a US endurance classic outright with a GT car, against prototype opposition, ought to be one of the best experiences in an engineer’s career. That Gary Davies can quickly pinpoint a triumph more satisfying says much about his long and successful career spanning single-seaters and sportscars
WRT and Audi to part ways at the end of 2022
The Belgian WRT squad will end its partnership with Audi in the GT3 arena after 13 seasons at the end of this year.
Spa 24 Hours: Mercedes takes first win since 2013
Mercedes claimed a first Spa 24 Hours victory since 2013 as the French Auto Sport Promotion team finally broke its duck in the Belgian enduro.
Spa 24 Hours: Lamborghini loses pole for engine infringement
Lamborghini has lost pole position for this weekend’s Spa 24 Hours for an engine infringement.
How to get the best out of amateur racers
Pro-Am GT racing is booming. But how should drivers approach working with an amateur? Autosport sought out a panel of experts to explain the pitfalls amateur drivers should avoid and how professionals can help them to achieve their goals
The remarkable career of a 'classy' champion who rejected politics
Over two decades as a factory driver with Audi and BMW, Martin Tomczyk earned the respect of team-mates and rivals as a hard but fair racer. After calling time on his racing career, the 2011 DTM champion sat down with Autosport to look back
The ex-IndyCar racer in "uncharted territory" of British GT team ownership
This weekend’s British GT finale will be a tense title showdown for some but, for those not in the championship fight, it’s a chance to end a challenging year on a high. In the latter camp is Paddock Motorsport's team owner Martin Plowman, whose 2021 season has been a rollercoaster ride of non-stop learning
The unpopular BMW stalwart built for the big occasion
It has won most of the big prizes in endurance racing across its six years in service, but the BMW M6 GT3's key weaknesses meant only a devoted few teams persisted with running it. As it prepares to bow out at season's end, the teams and drivers involved in its story share the secrets of an unpopular winner
The unwanted GT car that changed sportscar racing forever
Had FIA GT boss Stephane Ratel had his way, the Maserati MC12 would never have been allowed to set foot in his series. It duly proved the class of the field that most had expected, but the Balance of Performance that its superiority spawned would keep GT1 battles tight and bring long-term benefits that sportscar racing enjoys today
Why Britain's greatest sportscar was eclipsed on the world stage
The E-Type may be the most famous of all road-going Jaguars, but that didn't always translate into success on the track. After winning on its competition debut in 1961, motorsport success seemed an inevitability, but things didn’t turn out to be quite that straightforward
Why the Jaguar E-type remains special at 60
It’s 60 years since the Jaguar E-type arrived and caused a sensation. As our resident racer Ben Anderson discovered when he got behind the wheel of two special racing versions at Brands Hatch, the thrill of driving them hasn't diminished over time
The rise of a GT squad responsible for a unique 24-hour racing feat
It's a significant achievement to win one 24-hour race in a year, let alone two, and with different manufacturers, but that's exactly what ROWE Racing did in 2020 at the Nurburgring and Spa. This weekend's German classic offers the DTM newcomer a chance of another unique double to add to its growing collection of accolades