Race result: Pirro, Biela do it in style

Biela drove the final stint and, despite a splash-and-dash with just 12 laps to go, the German cruised his R8 home well ahead of the Gulf-backed car of Stefan Johansson and Patrick Lemarie.

The winning car covered 394 laps of Road Atlanta, with the second-placed machine finishing with 391 in the books. Just to add to the sense of Audi domination, the Champion car of Johnny Herbert and Andy Wallace completed the podium, with a 388-lap run.

The possibility of an Audi 1-2-3-4 had been dashed within the first hour of the race, when Tom Kristensen crashed the sister car to the Pirro/Biela machine on the climb from the Esses. The car was badly damaged, but more importantly, Rinaldo Capello's title chances were at an end.

"I feel very good," said Pirro. "But Dindo (Capello) and Tom (Kristensen) deserve it as much as I do too. I want them all on the podium as much as me. I don't feel like a single champion.

"At first, I had to race with one eye on the championship and one eye on the race. After Tom crashed out, I knew I had the title, but I still had to think about finishing and about getting Frank second in the points."

Biela added: "My target was to be a lap ahead as soon as possible. Until the very last stint I was pushing 100 percent. Even with a couple of laps lead, you can't feel safe."

Best of the non-Audis was the Cadillac of Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli and Christophe Tinseau. The car wasn't on the ultimate pace of the R8s, but still clung on gamely to finish just six laps behind the Champion car. The Collard/Goossens machine in fifth added to a good day for GM's luxury brand.

Top GTS car was the Pilgrim/Collins/Freon Chevrolet Corvette in sixth, with the Auberlen/Said/Stuck BMW M3 GTR heading the GT class in eighth.

BMW man Jorg Muller clinched the GT class title, while Saleen driver Terry Borcheller is the GTS champion.

A drive worthy of note was the surviving Panoz of David Brabham and Jan Magnussen. The car lost nearly 40 minutes in the pits after a collision with a backmarker, dropping out of the top 30, but climbed back to finish 10th overall.




1, Biela/Pirro, Audi R8, 394 laps
2, Johansson/Lemarie, Audi R8, 391
3, Wallace/Herbert, Audi R8, 388
4, Taylor/Angelelli/Tinseau, Cadillac LMP 01, 382
5, Collard/Goossens, Cadillac LMP 01, 364
6 Pilgrim/Collins/Freon, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, 362
7 Duno/Graham/Maxwell, Reynard-Judd 01Q, 361
8 Said/Stuck/Auberlen, BMW M3 GTR, 360
9 Muller/Muller, BMW M3 GTR, 359
10 Magnussen/Brabham, Panoz LMP1, 358