From the American Le Mans Series
The battle that everyone expected at Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6 lived up to its billing. Audi remained unbeaten at Road Atlanta as Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro spotted the field two laps at the start of the race but came back for a stunning victory in the 11th annual 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic.
McNish and his Audi R10 TDI crossed the finish line 4.512 seconds ahead of Peugeot's Christian Klien and the Peugeot 908 HDi that he drove with Stephane Sarrazin and Nic Minassian. A record weekend crowd of 113,000 witnessed the week-long fight between the top two powers in sports car racing.
The victory was sweet redemption for McNish, who crashed the car on the grid formation lap prior to the race. The team got the Scot on track two laps behind the field but was back on the lead lap after a two-hour, 45-minute stint.
Pirro and Capello continued to chip away at the lead before McNish's final stint. He passed Klien with about 40 minutes left and continued to drive away from the Peugeot. Even getting in position to contend for victory seemed doubtful early on. Capello had a problem with his seat insert, and the car ran hot as the temperature increased during the afternoon in Capello's stint.
McNish and Capello became the first drivers to win at Petit Le Mans for three consecutive years. Audi's Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr, newly crowned LMP1 champions finished third.
Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe won in LMP2 for Penske Motorsports in their Porsche RS Spyder. Castroneves is the first driver to have won both Petit Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500. He finished 21 seconds ahead of Penske teammates Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, who won their second straight drivers championship.
Bernhard and Dumas benefitted from an early retirement of the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b. After having the car being completely rebuilt following a crash Thursday, Sharp spun the car coming out of Turn 10B and smacked a concrete wall, damaging the rear end beyond repair.
Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows won in GT1 for Corvette Racing by six laps to take their second endurance victory of the season. They also won in class at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The win Saturday gave O'Connell and Magnussen the class championship with their eighth victory.
Jaime Melo and Mika Salo followed their GT2 endurance victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with another hard-fought endurance win Saturday in their Ferrari F430 GT. Salo finished just 2.317 seconds ahead of Flying Lizard Motorsports' Joerg Bergmeister and his Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The result with Marc Lieb was enough for Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler to wrap up the class championship.
The battle that everyone expected at Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6 lived up to its billing. Audi remained unbeaten at Road Atlanta as Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro spotted the field two laps at the start of the race but came back for a stunning victory in the 11th annual 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic.
McNish and his Audi R10 TDI crossed the finish line 4.512 seconds ahead of Peugeot's Christian Klien and the Peugeot 908 HDi that he drove with Stephane Sarrazin and Nic Minassian. A record weekend crowd of 113,000 witnessed the week-long fight between the top two powers in sports car racing.
The victory was sweet redemption for McNish, who crashed the car on the grid formation lap prior to the race. The team got the Scot on track two laps behind the field but was back on the lead lap after a two-hour, 45-minute stint.
Pirro and Capello continued to chip away at the lead before McNish's final stint. He passed Klien with about 40 minutes left and continued to drive away from the Peugeot. Even getting in position to contend for victory seemed doubtful early on. Capello had a problem with his seat insert, and the car ran hot as the temperature increased during the afternoon in Capello's stint.
McNish and Capello became the first drivers to win at Petit Le Mans for three consecutive years. Audi's Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr, newly crowned LMP1 champions finished third.
Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe won in LMP2 for Penske Motorsports in their Porsche RS Spyder. Castroneves is the first driver to have won both Petit Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500. He finished 21 seconds ahead of Penske teammates Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, who won their second straight drivers championship.
Bernhard and Dumas benefitted from an early retirement of the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b. After having the car being completely rebuilt following a crash Thursday, Sharp spun the car coming out of Turn 10B and smacked a concrete wall, damaging the rear end beyond repair.
Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows won in GT1 for Corvette Racing by six laps to take their second endurance victory of the season. They also won in class at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The win Saturday gave O'Connell and Magnussen the class championship with their eighth victory.
Jaime Melo and Mika Salo followed their GT2 endurance victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with another hard-fought endurance win Saturday in their Ferrari F430 GT. Salo finished just 2.317 seconds ahead of Flying Lizard Motorsports' Joerg Bergmeister and his Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The result with Marc Lieb was enough for Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler to wrap up the class championship.