Qualifying: Tom gives Dindo a hand

The Audi driver posted a best lap of 1m10.917s early on in a session that was declared wet, but failed to produce any rain during its 30-minute duration. But despite late charges from Pirro and David Brabham's Panoz, the Dane held on.

"It's very satisfying to put it on pole," said Kristensen. "We were very nervous and concerned about the weather, but when the organisers declared the session wet anyway, we could then use as many tyres as we wanted. But I didn't go for something really soft - I still used two sets of race tyres.

"When I was told of Brabham and Emanuele (Pirro's) progress," he added, "it was nice to get that fast lap in so early. I was a bit concerned when they went out late on, but I kept it.

In the end, the works R8s took the top two slots on the grid, with Pirro stopping the clocks 0.094s slower than Kristensen. Brabham briefly climbed on to the second row, but Pirro's late effort wrested it back.

Fourth was the Gulf Audi after a big final push from Stefan Johansson knocked Johnny Herbert and the Champion example down to fifth by less than a hundredth of a second. Herbert looked capable of challenging for a front row slot, but a spin and traffic stymied the Essex ace's efforts.

Best of the non-LMP900 rest and the fastest in the LMP675 class was Belgium's Didier de Radigues, who put his Reynard-Judd 11th.

In the GTS class, a last gasp attack by Andy Pilgrim deprived Saleen of a one-two in class and put a Chevrolet Corvette top of the pile by three tenths of a second. But with the session for GTS and GT cars starting damp and never drying fully after a pre-session sprinkle, timing and courage was everything.

It was still slick on the exit of Turns 6 and 7, so you didn't know how much you could get on the gas. I guess I did it a little better than the Saleen guys," said a modest Pilgrim.

In the GT class, JJ Lehto paid back the efforts of his hard-working Schnitzer crew, who totally rebuilt his car after a shunt in night practice, by placing the M3 GTR on class pole and 22nd overall.

"Everything was destroyed on every corner, the suspension and everything," explained the Finn. "Luckily the chassis stayed together, but it's basically a brand new car. It was a long night for the guys.

"Qualifying wasn't easy. There was a lot of traffic and I only got one clear lap, but it's the same for everybody."

With Lehto and his car mate Jorg Muller leading the GT title race and separated by just one point, BMW decided that the best way of insuring themselves against a repeat of Lehto's accident in the race itself was to split the pair. Muller will run with namesake Dirk Muller, while Lehto is teamed with Fredrik Ekblom and a guesting Karl Wendlinger. It's a tactic Lehto agrees with.

"BMW's decision to split us is a good one," he opined. "We both have a chance of the title, so just in case we have a problem like we had yesterday, it's sensible."

Back to the battle for the title and despite the closeness of the title battle, Kristensen doesn't think tactics or conservative driving will play a part over 1000 kilometres of Road Atlanta on Saturday.

"There's so much traffic out there that it's going to be very difficult for everybody, but it's the final race and everybody wants to finish on a high," he said. "I want a good result to spend my Christmas time with, but we're all going to be very close in race trim."




1 Capello/Kristensen, Audi R8, 1m10.917s
2 Biela/Pirro, Audi R8, 1m11.011s
3 Magnussen/Brabham, Panoz LMP1, 1m11.061s
4 Johansson/Lemarie, Audi R8, 1m11.939s
5 Wallace/Herbert, Audi R8, 1m11.948s
6 Graf/Lagorce, Panoz LMP1, 1m12.372s

11 de Radigues/Lambert/Godd, Reynard 01Q, 1m14.579s

15 Pilgrim/Collins/Freon, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, 1m18.954s

22 Lehto/Ekblom/Wendlinger, BMW M3 GTR, 1m22.604s