Laguna Seca race: Audi lock out
Audi reasserted its authority on the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca by completing a one-two-three at the Californian track to bring the Panoz team's short winning streak to an end

The Joest-run works number two Audi of Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro took a convincing win ahead of the privateer Champion Racing R8 of Brit Johnny Herbert and Andy Wallace in second place, to give Pirro the lead of the championship with only one round to run.
The Gulf-backed car of Stefan Johansson and Patrick Lemarie rounded out the triumvirate of R8s at the top by taking the final place on the podium.
The lead Panoz of Jan Magnussen and David Brabham won last time out at Mid-Ohio and the pair looked like their LMP-1 Roadster S was capable of doing it again.
Magnussen fought for the lead during the first half of the 120-lap race and the Dane had managed to fight his way to the front from fourth on the grid by the first round of pitstops. However, his run at the front was short-lived and after a tangle with Herbert on lap 58, Magnussen went off into the tyre barrier and was forced to retire before Brabham had had a chance to get behind the wheel.
Cadillac rounded off a successful weekend by taking fourth and fifth places with Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli just pipping French team mates Emanuel Collard and Christophe Tinseau in their sister machine.
The highest placed GTS car was the Saleen of Franz Konrad and Terry Borcheller, which finished an impressive sixth to win the class just ahead of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell's Corvette in seventh.
Biela/Pirro Audi Sport North America 120 laps
Herbert/Wallace Champion Racing 120 laps
Johansson/LeMarie Johansson Racing 119 laps
Taylor/Angelelli Team Cadillac 117 laps
Collard/Tinseau Team Cadillac 116 laps
Konrad/borcheller Konrad Team Saleen (GTS) 112 laps
Fellows/O'Connell Corvette Racing (GTS) 111 laps
Pilgrim/Collins Corvette Racing (GTS) 111 laps
Lehto/Müller BMW Motorsport (GT) 110 laps
Ekblom/Müller BMW Motorsport (GT) 110 laps

Previous article
Laguna Seca qualifying: Audi 1-2-3
Next article
Sportscar Championship calendar announced

About this article
Series | GT |
Laguna Seca race: Audi lock out
Trending
Why GTE's future is a conundrum with no easy answers
The convergence between the World Endurance Championship and IMSA over LMDh regulations offers a bright future for sportscar racing, but the imminent demise of IMSA's GT Le Mans class creates wider issues to which no catch-all solution exists
How Tandy joined an exclusive club of endurance legends
Victory at last year's Spa 24 Hours meant Nick Tandy had completed the unofficial sextuple crown of the world's six biggest endurance races, becoming the first Briton to do so. Ahead of his fresh start with Corvette Racing, he explains how he did it
Why a lost F1 hope is still in demand aged 65
There's a saying among retired folk that life begins at 60, but endurance specialist Alain Ferte has never used the 'R' word. Some 40 years since his crowning glory in F3, he's still a driver in demand and gunning for more 24-hour racing success this weekend
How a BTCC veteran conquered the summit in British GT
After two decades in touring cars, Rob Collard had an uphill battle to unlearn the tools needed to be quick in tin-tops and understand how to hustle a GT3 car. But he did so with aplomb to prevail alongside Sandy Mitchell amid a challenging year for the series
The high-power solution to counter a dying breed
SRO boss Stephane Ratel was worried about the disappearance of the amateur - or 'gentleman' - drivers who used to be the bedrock of GT3. So he invented a new category that brings back a familiar name from the past
The Dutch oddity that was too niche for its own good
Despite (briefly) having its own F1 arm, Spyker's period in international sportscar racing was spent mostly propping up the grid. Its C8 Laviolette GT2-R stands as one of the last underfunded factory GT efforts that never got a helping hand from BOP
How a "fragile s***box" conquered a sportscar classic
It was rare to see anything other than a Ferrari or a Porsche winning GT2 races in the mid-2000s, but TVR's victory in the 2005 Spa 1000km was all the more remarkable given it first had to last the full six hours
The hard-hitting film that highlights drivers' vulnerabilities
Porsche's recently-released documentary film takes fans behind the scenes of two gruelling 24-hour races in as many weekends last year, at Le Mans and the Nurburgring. That neither goes to plan only makes for a more authentic and rewarding viewing experience