ALMS race: Panoz wins Portland thriller

It was no easy lights-to-flag victory for the pair, however, with pole man Brabham swapping the lead with the Audi R8 of Tom Kristensen in the early part of the two hour 45 minute race. Then a late caution flag heralded a 10-minute dash to the finish, with Dane Magnussen holding off Emanuele Pirro to win by just three tenths of a second.

The Panoz squad's victory means it is the first time an Audi hasn't been on the top step of the podium since a Brabham/Magnussen win at the Nurburgring in Germany 11 races ago.

"This win means so much to our team," said a jubilant Brabham. "For us to beat the Audis is just awesome. Jan did a great job under pressure, and the team has been superb all weekend."

Behind Pirro and Frank Biela was the Champion Racing Audi of Johnny Herbert and Andy Wallace - with Herbert taking his first podium in the series.

The strength of the Panoz cars was emphasised by Klaus Graf's and Franck Lagorce's fourth place, and the second works Audi of Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello rounded out the top five as their Audi R8 faded in the latter stages after encountering gearbox problems.

In the GTS class, Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell took their third class win of the season. Second place in the class had gone to the second Corvette of Kelly Collins and Andy Pilgrim, but the pair was later disqualified when their car was found to be underweight. That allowed the Viper of Shane Lewis and Jeff Altenburg to move up to second in class.

Boris Said and Hans Stuck took the GT class honours, but the BMW cars didn't carry the complete domination they enjoyed in qualifying over into the race, as the Porsche of Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen took second in the class, one lap back.




David Brabham/Jan Magnussen Panoz LMP1 Roadster S 131 laps
Emanuele Pirro/Frank Biela Audi R8 +.374s
Johnny Herbert/Andy Wallace Audi R8 +15.589s
Klaus Graf/Franck Lagorce Panoz LMP1 Roadster S +21.758
Tom Kristensen/Rinaldo Capello Audi R8 +4 laps
Didier de Radigues/Milka Duno/John Graham Reynard 01Q/Judd +8 laps
Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R +9 laps
Boris Said/ Hans Stuck BMW M3 GTR +10 laps
Sascha Maassen/Lucas Luhr Porsche 911 GT3-RS +11 laps
JJ Lehto/ Jorg Muller BMW M3 GTR +11 laps