AUDI STORMS TO ANOTHER PETIT VICTORY
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.
"It was more than a good race," said Pirro, who won at Petit Le Mans
for the first time since 2005. "Allan would not have been happy with a
normal win. He had to crash the car to make it extraordinary. With team
strategy and the yellows we were able to bring the car back. It was a
real treat and I was pleased to share the car on this day. It really was
a dream race and a lot of people deserve this race."
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.
"I didn't think this afternoon when it got so hot that we had a chance,"
he said. "Sometimes you need luck. We didn't get much luck at the Le
Mans Series but we had luck here."
The climatic moments came as darkness enveloped Road Atlanta. The Audi
crew called for two stops late - one for fuel and another for tires.
McNish came back in during a late-race caution for more fuel and tires,
a move that gave him an advantage during the late-race push.
"This race belongs to the team," McNish said. "To get 16-17 people from
both crews on that and get it repaired when I thought we were out, they
did something I didn't think was possible. No one in our team does the
work to finish second. There's no question in my mind that when we got
in the position at the end that I was going to do everything I could
do to win this race. If it took us to the top step, then it was just
desserts for the team.
"I got a run on Christian out of Turn 5 and he got caught up in
traffic," McNish said of the winning pass. "You get one opportunity to
overtake and you have to take it. I was able to dive in at seven and he
couldn't get a clean line to pass me on the straight."
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.
"I have to thank Roger and Tim for letting me be in the car," said
Castroneves, who won in his second Series start. "These guys did an
incredible job. Timo and Romain did a great job, and Ryan was awesome.
This is a very challenging track and very difficult. It turned out to be
a great race for all three cars."
Saturday marked the first time Briscoe and Castroneves - teammates in
the IndyCar Series for Team Penske - shared a car together. It obviously
worked out well with Briscoe setting class records in qualifying and the
race. The pairing also led overall five times.
"It was a great opportunity given to us by Penske and Porsche," Briscoe
said. "We've been really working closely together. It was a great result
and great for the whole team. We managed to be the sole P2 cars on the
lead lap for a long time before Timo and Romain made a lap up. As we saw
last year, the P1 cars are quicker but we can stay with them on the lead
lap."
Penske swept the Petit P2 podium with Sascha Maassen, Patrick Long and
Emmanuel Collard finishing third. The victory also gave Penske its third
straight team championship in class.
"The year was very special," Dumas said. "It is an honor to win this
championship again. From my point of view, this is the biggest moment
for me with Porsche and the RS Spyder. The competition with Acura has
not been easy. A lot of people were thinking before this race, 'What is
happening with Penske?' We worked very hard during the month to increase
the level of the car."
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.
"I felt bad for them but it was only one hour into the race," Bernhard
said. "There was a long race ahead of us and the same could happen to
us. With the traffic here, sometimes you need some luck. I really wanted
to try to stay focused and bring this home."
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.
"It's a very special win because we won the championship," said
Magnussen, who won his first title. "The race today was hard between
the two cars. We were pushing hard on the track and in the pits and
everywhere. In the first half of the race we had to push like crazy to
stay ahead of the No. 4 car. It was difficult in the daytime and in the
nighttime."
Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis finished second in class.
The two Corvettes exchanged the lead twice in the pits before misfortune
again befell the No. 4 car. A malfunctioning throttle linkage left
Gavin crawling around the track before the six-hour mark. It was eerily
similar to Sebring where the trio lost laps to a broken driveshaft early
on.
"Winning Petit Le Mans is very special. For some reason, this race has
never gone our way," O'Connell said. "For Ron and I, this is our eighth
Petit Le Mans and only our second win. We lost the lead on one pit stop
but we got it back on the next one. We kept building gaps and I felt
like we had things in hand."
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.
"It was really hard," Melo said of the race. "To win Le Mans and Petit
Le Mans is great for the whole team. It was a very difficult race. We
had to move to the back of the field at one point and we had to push
hard to get back on top. The car was working very well and comfortable
to drive. It made it easier for us to do it."
Tafel Racing's Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher placed third in their
Ferrari.
Salo had to weather a stuck throttle and a broken drink system during
his stint. It was a refreshing change considering some of the horrible
luck Risi has had this year. After winning eight times last year, this
was only the second victory in the Series for the team.
"Yes we won but it doesn't completely make up for the bad luck this
year," Salo said. "We knew since the first day how quick the Flying
Lizard guys and the Porsches were. Our car worked very well and we had
to work hard. It was a really nice fight."
Henzler and Bergmeister have finished on the GT2 podium in every event
this year except St. Petersburg in March. Four class victories helped
give Bergmeister his third championship and Henzler his first.
Flying Lizard also won its first team championship.
"This is unbelievable," Henzler said. "I can't describe it. Flying
Lizard has tried for so many years. With the support of Joerg, the team
and Porsche, we never had any issue throughout the year."
Bergmeister also won championships in 2005 and 2006 with Petersen
Motorsports/White Lightning Racing.
"It's the first time for the Lizards, so it is like a first time,"
Bergmeister said. "The team was really ready to win the championship. To
have it both the team and driver makes it doubly special."
In the debut of the Green Challenge, the Penske entry of Long, Maassen
and Collard were the prototype winners. In the GT category, the Corvette
of O'Connell, Magnussen and Fellows were victorious for General Motors.
The cars had the best scores for overall performance, fuel efficiency
and environmental impact.
The final round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series is the Monterey
Sports Car Championships from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The four-hour
race into darkness is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m. PT on Saturday,
October 18. NBC Sports will air the race from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday,
October 19. XM Satellite Radio will air the race from 4 to 8 p.m. ET
on the same day. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage on
americanlemans.com, which also will feature Live Timing & Scoring.
-credit: alms
