Audi wins, but Kristensen denied treble in final duel

Kristensen emerged from the last round of pitstops in the lead by dint of not changing tyres but, during the course of his searing in-lap, he exceeded the pitlane speed limit by 10mph and earned a stop-go penalty.

Capello gratefully accepted the advantage and exerted a steel grip on proceedings in the closing half hour, denying Kristensen the opportunity to make inroads into his 20sec lead until the final lap formation finish (which makes it, in theory, the closest ever in the event's history). The Italian seems to have slipped comfortably into the shoes vacated by F1-bound Allan McNish, who won the ALMS last year.

"When my engineer told me about the penalty I was so relieved, because I had thought the race was over for us," said Capello, who dedicated the victory to the memory of Bob Wollek, the sportscar legend who tragically lost his life in a road accident on the eve of the race.

Third place fell to the Champion Audi of Andy Wallace, Dorsey Schroeder and Ralf Kelleners.

"This is a fantastic result for us," said Wallace. "We've only just got this car and we're still learning about it. I think there's more to come."

In the GTS class, the Konrad Saleen S7-R shared by Oliver Gavin, Terry Borcheller and Franz Konrad took the Californian marque's first ALMS win ahead of the two works Chevrolet Corvette C5-Rs. It was the first time the exotic, and controversial, supercar had run for more than three hours in race conditions, and it required only a pad change and the taping up of some loose rear bodywork.

The Corvettes were stymied by mechanical problems throughout the second half of the race. The American Viper Racing Dodge Viper GTS-Rs also ran a formation finish, albeit 24 laps down from the third-placed Corvette. But it was a tremendous improvement upon the team's muddled debut at Texas Motor Speedway.

The McKenna Porsche 911s finally got the better of BMW's new V8-powered M3 to take a 1-2 in GT. Sascha Maassen, Bob Wollek's co-driver at Dick Barbour Racing last year, was fittingly a member of the winning crew. JJ Lehto required medical attention for exhaustion and was unable to join the podium ceremony.


1, Capello/Aiello/Alboreto (works Audi R8) 370 laps
2, Kristensen/Pirro/Biela (works Audi R8) +0.482sec
3, Wallace/Schroeder/Kelleners (Champion Audi R8) 366 laps
4, Johansson/Smith (Gulf Audi R8) 362 laps
5, Field/Dayton/Sutherland (Intersport Lola-Judd) 332 laps
6, Gavin/Konrad/Borcheller (Konrad Saleen S7-R) 332 laps
7, Pilgrim/Collins/Freon (Chevrolet Corvette C5-R) 331 laps
8, Maassen/Luhr/Collard (McKenna Porsche 911 GT3-RS) 326 laps
9, Pobst/Menzel/Bernhard (McKenna Porsche 911 GT3-RS) 326 laps
10, Lehto/Muller (Schnitzer BMW M3 GTR) 324 laps