Atlanta
ALMS, 12th October 2002
Race
Johnny
Herbert was cruelly denied a second American Le Mans Series
victory in the final race at Atlanta today (SAT) after narrowly
losing out in a thrilling seven hour duel with the similar Audi
of ultimate winners Rinaldo Capello/Tom Kristensen.
Herbert
drove two exhausting stints lasting almost six hours backed
up by co-driver Stefan Johansson which looked set to earn Audi’s
“privateer” ADT Champion Racing team its maiden ALMS victory.
With just over an hour remaining leader Herbert, who won the
opening Sebring 12 Hour race in March for the “works” Audi outfit,
handed over to co-driver Johansson in a routine pit-stop for
fuel and tyres.
But
for the second time in the 1,000-mile sportscar endurance race,
a full course yellow caution period moments later caused by
an accident, handed the advantage to the Capello/Kristensen
“factory” Audi who were able to pit without losing time and
inherit the lead.
“Stefan
had just taken over from me but a caution period enabled the
Capello/Kristensen Audi to get in and out of the pits without
losing much time while we followed the pace car and dropped
almost a lap behind on each occasion,” reflected a dehydrated
Herbert.
Johnny,
who finishes fifth in the championship, added: “We reduced
that down to 29-seconds but then Stefan had to make another
stop for fuel with a couple of laps to run. Basically the
two yellow caution periods killed us off - we were plain unlucky.”
An
electrical problem dropped the pole-starting Frank Biela/Emanuele
Pirro to 10th place after three hours and then lost further
time when Pirro collided with the MG of James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger/Andy
Wallace which suffered a fuel fire immediately ahead of the
Audi. After a lengthy pit-stop, the Biela/Pirro Audi resumed
in 16th place but recovered to sixth place at the chequered
flag - 18 laps behind the winners after almost nine and half
hours of hard racing.
A
59.972-seconds race victory over the Herbert/Johansson Audi
earned Denmark’s Kristensen the ALMS Driver’s title as Audi
claimed their third consecutive ALMS Manufacturers’ Award following
previous title success with Allan McNish (2000) and Pirro (2001).
Race
Result:
1.
(2) Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen; Audi R8 (LMP 900), 394,
9:27:39.594, 59.972 seconds.
2. (4) Johnny Herbert and Stefan Johansson; Audi R8 (LMP
900), 394.
3. (9) JJ Lehto, Max Angelelli and Christophe Tinseau; Cadillac
Northstar LMP 02 (LMP 900), 390.
4. (7) Wayne Taylor, Eric Bernard and Emmanuel Collard; Cadillac
Nortstar LMP 02 (LMP 900), 389.
5. (11) Bryan Herta, Bill Auberlen and Gunnar Jeannette; Panoz
LMP-1 (LMP 900), 380.
6. (1) Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro; Audi R8 (LMP 900), 376.
Qualifying
Top
10 starters for Saturday's American Le Mans Series Petit Le
Mans at Road Atlanta, showing drivers, type car (class), qualifying
speed in miles per hour and qualifying time:
1.
Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro; Audi R8 (LMP 900), 128.899,
1:10.939.
2. Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello; Audi R8 (LMP 900), 128.662,
1:11.070.
3. James Weaver, Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace; Lola EX257-MG
(LMP 675), 127.207, 1:11.833.
4. Johnny Herbert and Stefan Johansson; Audi R8 (LMP 900),
126.854, 1:12.083.
5. Jan Magnussen, David Brabham and David Donohue; Panoz LMP-1
(LMP 900), 126.741, 1:12.147.
6. Jim Matthews, Tony Ave and Marc Goossens; Riley & Scott MkIIIC-Elan
(LMP 900), 126.727, 1:12.155.
7. Eric Bernard, Emmanuel Collard and Wayne Taylor; Cadillac
Northstar LMP 02 (LMP 900), 126.468, 1:12.303.
8. Jon Field, Duncan Dayton and Michael Durand; Lola EX257-MG
(LMP 675), 126.398, 1:12.343.
9. JJ Lehto, Max Angelelli and Christophe Tinseau; Cadillac
Northstar LMP 02 (LMP 900), 125.987, 1:12.579.
10. John Nielsen and Casper Elgaard; Reynard 02S-Zytek (LMP
675), 125.732, 1:12.726.
Preview
Britain's
Johnny Herbert is one of five drivers who starts the final race
in Atlanta on Saturday capable of winning this year's American
Le Mans Series title.
Herbert,
38, shares a privateer Audi R8 in the 1,000-mile sportscar endurance
race with fellow former Grand Prix driver Stefan Johansson.
Denmark's Tom Kristensen enjoys a slender three-point lead over
his Italian co-driver Rinaldo Capello with their fellow "factory"
Audi Sport team-mates Frank Biela, of Germany, and reigning
ALMS champion Emanuele Pirro, of Italy, third and fourth respectively
with Herbert fifth.
"Our
Audi has been fitted with the latest bodywork for the first
time but the 'works' cars are still going to be hard to beat
as their engines are more powerful and economical - a critical
factor in a race lasting around 10 hours," confirmed Herbert.
"I'm
23-points behind Tom and realistically I need both the 'factory'
Audis to retire for me to snatch the title."
Herbert
has recorded one win and three runner-up placings during the
season. In warm-up trials over the past three days, the "works"
Audis have set the pace around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit
with Herbert's ADT Champion Audi third fastest.
Schedule
at Road Atlanta:
Wednesday,
9 October
1725-1925 Free practice
Thursday,
10 October
1430-1530 Free practice
1915-2015 Free practice
Friday,
11 October
0000-0200 Night practice
1300-1400 Free practice
1835-1900 Qualifying
Saturday,
12 October
1300-1330 Warm-up
1630-0030 hrs Race (1000 miles or ten hours)
*
All times quoted are BST
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effort is made to ensure factual accuracy but no
responsibility is accepted for the information on these pages.
News and photos
from Audi Sport © and from
AmericanLeMans
used by kind permission.
This page last updated Monday, 20-May-2002 08:00:27 BST
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