The 10 greatest ALMS races

Outside victory is Acura's first

2008 Lime Rock

There wasn't much money on Highcroft giving Acura a first outright ALMS victory after the opening exchanges. David Brabham qualified on pole, but team-mate Scott Sharp was in freefall down the order with a broken diffuser.

Speedy pitwork and canny tactics by the Highcroft crew - followed by a superlative drive from Brabham - sealed an amazing victory, one that was never in doubt in Brabham's mind.

"The moment I got in the car, it felt so hooked up," he recalls. "I said to myself, 'you blokes ahead better watch out, because I'm coming'."

Come Brabham did, and he sealed the victory with an around-the-outside move on Porsche driver Timo Bernhard at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap.

"He defended to the inside, so I went for the outside," explains Brabham. "I had so much confidence in that car that I knew it would stick."

Road Atlanta was the scene of a bizarre but brilliant race for McNish © LAT

McNish's finest hour

2008 Petit Le Mans

Allan McNish was out of the car and kicking anything that came within range of his Nomex-booted foot just 40 minutes before the start. He'd just looped his Audi R10 TDI on the formation lap and damaged both ends. Yet 11 hours later he was celebrating victory at Road Atlanta with team-mates Rinaldo Capello and Emanuele Pirro.

It was the result of an amazing comeback, or rather several comebacks. The first was Champion Racing's repairs that got McNish out on track only two and a bit laps behind the leaders. The next was the drive by McNish and Pirro that put the car back on the lead lap in hour three. Then, the job started all over again after Capello was hit by a series of problems.

Another lost lap was regained by some more exemplary work from Champion: it stopped McNish twice under one yellow, once for fuel and once for tyres. The team then, crucially, put him on fresh Michelins for the 36-lap run-in.

What followed was McNish at his best. He dispatched one of the Penske Porsches, team-mate Marco Werner and then Peugeot driver Christian Klien in quick order, and then fought a solid rear-guard action during one final appearance from the safety car.

"That's one I cringe about and smile about at the same time," says McNish. "I thought we were dead ducks."

Multi-car battle in 2010 Petit went the way of Corvette © LAT

Chevy does it at the death

2010 Petit Le Mans

Corvette Racing had endured a winless season up to the 2010 ALMS finale, and it looked like remaining that way until the last couple of corners at Road Atlanta. The Risi Ferrari team appeared a shoo-in for the GT victory until Toni Vilander spluttered out of fuel on the run to the chicane. Oliver Gavin swept past, but wasn't entirely sure that he'd claimed the win for himself, Jan Magnussen and Emmanuel Collard.

"I'd seen the lights of a Ferrari weaving, but when I went past I had a complete blank on the number of the car we'd been racing," says Gavin. "Then my engineer Chuck [Houghton] screamed, 'we've won, we've won!' I could hear the celebrations in the background."

It was a thrilling end to a race that had been nip and tuck between the top GT cars all the way. There had been a purple patch in the early evening when six cars representing Ferrari, Chevrolet, BMW and Porsche had run nose to tail at the head of the field.

The Ferrari Vilander shared with Gianmaria Bruni had come from a lap down and looked odds-on on to win after the former leapfrogged Gavin during the penultimate round of stops. But at a final splash-and-dash stop, too little fuel went into the Ferrari.

"I'll always remember my instructions as I left the pits for the final time," recalls Gavin. "Chuck said: 'Save fuel, save tyres, catch the Ferrari'. I remember thinking 'it's not that simple'."

LMP2 Porsche came through to beat the more powerful Audi © LAT

David prevails over Goliath

2007 Detroit

Two very different machines slugging it out as they traded places and paint made for an amazing spectacle when racing returned to Belle Isle.

Porsche's RS Spyder LMP2 was the faster car around the tight parkland circuit, but the LMP1 Audi R10 TDI had a massive torque and power advantage. And Romain Dumas and Emanuele Pirro made the most of their respective mounts over a thrilling penultimate lap.

The Porsche, which Dumas shared with Timo Bernhard, looked to have it in the bag until a safety car with 50 minutes left. Pirro blasted into the lead from fourth in the queue and two more yellows thwarted Dumas's attempts to get back in front.

Dumas was told by the Penske crew that second overall was good enough, but the Frenchman had other ideas.

"That Audi was so wide, but I had to win," recalls Dumas. "I managed to overtake him into Turn 7 and we touched a little bit, but then he passed me on the straight. Then he went wide at Turn 8 and I was able to pass him again."

Dumas got the hammer down in the twiddly bits that followed and was home and dry starting the final lap.

Smith refused to yield to Luhr's Pickett HPD © LAT

The closest-ever finish

2012 Road America

Guy Smith thought he'd lost it when Lucas Luhr's HPD appeared on his inside into the final corner on the final lap. The Dyson driver was facing the ignominy of losing victory at the final hurdle after fighting a sterling rear-guard action for the final 10 laps.

"Then I saw he was running a bit wide," recalls Smith, who was paired in the Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda B12/60 with team boss Chris Dyson. "I overslowed the car to cut back on the inside.

"I got on the throttle momentarily before him. The Mazda engine is strong at the top end and we were running low downforce, which made the thing like a dragster, so I had the momentum up the hill to the finish."

The winning margin was just 0.083s in Smith's favour after four hours of racing.

Kristensen, Werner and Lehto won thanks to a tactical masterstroke © LAT

Champions slug it out

2005 Sebring 12 Hours

Two all-time sportscars greats went at it hammer and tongs in the final stages aboard two identical examples of one of the greatest prototypes of all time. The result was the closest competitive finish in Sebring history.

The internecine battle between the two Champion Audi R8s, their driver line-ups led by Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, was a thriller that could have gone either way. There was little to choose between them except for a tactical masterstroke on the part of Champion team bosses Brad Kettler and Mike Peters in the pit of the winning car Kristensen shared with Marco Werner and JJ Lehto.

The Dane looked set to lose the lead at the penultimate round of stops because he would need tyres and the chasing McNish would not. But Champion opted to short-fuel the leading car. Somewhere between seven and nine seconds were saved, which combined by a delay for McNish, resulted in Kristensen coming out with a couple of seconds in hand.

Kristensen pushed like hell on cold tyres to stay ahead and then used the advantage of new Michelins to build a gap. The advantage was all but removed at the next stop, but Kristensen had track position. The damage had been done and McNish fell short by a shade over six seconds.

"Short fuelling Tom was crucial," says McNish. "Without that, I'm 99.9 per cent sure I would have done him."

Washington win was Panoz's last in LMP1 © LAT

Panoz is king of Capitol Hill

2002 Washington

It wasn't unknown for the quirky front-engined Panoz to get the better of the all-conquering Audis, but the German machines were looking unbeatable in 2002. That is until the ALMS circus arrived in the US capital.

The tight track suited the torquey Panoz LMP-01 Evo and some canny tactics allowed Jan Magnussen and David Brabham to take a final LMP1 win for the American marque.

There was nothing between the Panoz and the two Joest Audi R8s, all three cars spending time in the lead through the first two stints. But a tactical call gave Panoz the edge for the run to the flag.

Magnussen returned to the wheel on fresh Michelins, whereas Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro stayed put in their R8s on old rubber.

Magnussen resumed in third, nine seconds off the lead, but needed just five laps to hit the front and then stayed there, with Kristensen breathing down his neck, to the end.

"There was a ton of pick-up on that track and the other guys had problems cleaning their tyres off after the final safety car," explains Magnussen. "That gave me a huge advantage for five or six laps.

"The stop-start circuit suited us, but I was pretty determined. We didn't have a championship to worry about, so it was win or wreck."

Capello made the wrong tyre choice, but fought off Muller's BMW © LAT

Slick Muller can't catch Capello

2000 Mosport

Rinaldo Capello knew he'd made the wrong decision, but he also knew that he had to live with it. The Italian and team-mate Allan McNish had been dominant aboard their Audi R8 around a rain-affected Mosport, but when the track started to dry, he opted to stay on wets. Jorg Muller's BMW had switched to slicks with 20 minutes to go and was flying.

"With two laps to go, I thought I had no chance," remembers Capello. "The car was all over the place, but Muller didn't catch me until Turn 9 on the final lap. I drove those last two corners as though I was on slicks."

The Audi's winning margin was just 0.149s.

Melo's move was do-or-die with worn brake pads, and he did © LAT

Down to the metal - and the wire

2007 Sebring 12 Hours

The Risi Ferrari should have been a couple of miles up the road, but its continual restarting problems in the pits meant the best of the Flying Lizard Porsches was still in the hunt as the race neared its climax. Worse still, the brakes on the leading Ferrari 430 GTC were shot and there was nothing that Jaime Melo could do about a fast-closing Jorg Bergmeister.

Bergmeister looked home and dry as he edged ahead out of the penultimate corner and had the inside line for Turn 17. Melo, however, had other ideas aboard the Ferrari he shared with Mika Salo and Johnny Mowlem. The brake pads were down to the metal because Risi had forgone a pad change in its attempts to stay ahead, but the Brazilian reckoned it was worth one last shot.

"I braked a little earlier than him and got on the power as early as possible," explains the Brazilian. "It was the only thing I could do."

There was contact on the exit, but somehow Melo emerged in front. Pretty it wasn't, breathtaking it most certainly was.

Stunning Miami scenery was a fitting backdrop to 2003 epic © LAT

Champion wins on fumes

2003 Miami

A pit fire won the Miami Grand Prix for Champion. That might sound strange, but the seconds lost while the flash of flame was extinguished ensured the Audi R8 rejoined the track with just under two hours to go. That meant Johnny Herbert, who had just taken over from JJ Lehto, could continue to the finish without exceeding the maximum driving time - and somehow made it without stopping again.

"That idea was definitely on our strategy sheet," recalls Champion crew chief Brad Kettler. "The yellows [that forced the pitstop] came out a moment too early for it to work. But the fire cost us about 15 seconds, which was just enough to put us under the two-hour limit."

A series of safety cars and the low speeds on the stop-start downtown Miami street track made the plan viable. "After a while, we were locked into that strategy and just had to save as much fuel as possible," continues Kettler.

That didn't stop Herbert from pulling 30s on fellow Audi driver Frank Biela early in the final hour, before the Joest car came back at the Champion man after one final yellow.

Deteriorating track conditions led to the race being chequered flagged with just under three minutes to go, and Biela four seconds in arrears.

Kettler knows that the winning Audi would have been able to complete the race without the early end: "We had more fuel left than I expected at tech inspection."

Did you know?

The American Le Mans Series will tell you that the curtain will fall on the championship with its 147th race at Road Atlanta this weekend. AUTOSPORT begs to differ: there have been 149 scoring races since the ALMS began with the 1999 Sebring 12 Hours.

The missing races from the organisers' tally are a pair of events in Europe in 2001. The Donington Park and Jarama rounds were run under the European Le Mans Series banner, but they were point-scoring ALMS rounds. So they count, period.