Quotes after the race

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "Once again the Audi R10 TDI was the dominating LM P1 car and remains undefeated in its class. That we were not able to get the overall victory even on the fastest track of the American Le Mans Series shows once more that the weight difference between the LM P1 and the LM P2 cars is simply too big. On top of that comes the smaller fuel tank we must use compared to our opposition.”

Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #1): "The final result was open until the very end. I enjoyed a close but fair fight with Emanuele (Pirro) in the closing stages and I felt that I was faster than him. Four laps from the end, I lost front end grip, making braking very difficult, but I still tried absolutely everything to catch the leading Porsche. But I hit some very bad traffic just two laps from the chequered flag and lost too much time and any chance of a race victory was gone from that moment.”

Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #1): "It’s disappointing to have started from pole-position and ultimately finish second by less than two seconds having led much of the race despite two tyre issues when I was leading. I suppose I should be satisfied for winning the LM P1 class for the sixth time this season but as a racing driver, I’m never content to finish a race in second place overall. There was a very good possibility of us winning this race but it slipped away from us.”

The results at Road America

1 Dumas/Bernhard (Porsche) 96 laps in 4h 01'17"701
2 Capello/McNish (Audi R10 TDI) + 1"783 (1st in LM P1)
3 Pirro/Werner (Audi R10 TDI) + 2"489 (2nd in LM P1)
4 Maassen/Briscoe (Porsche) + 1'00"727
5 Brabham/Johansson (Acura/Honda) - 2 laps
6 Dyson/Smith (Porsche) - 2 laps
7 Wallace/Leitzinger (Porsche) - 2 laps
8 Fernandez/Diaz (Acura/Honda) - 2 laps
9 Herta/Franchitti (Acura/Honda) - 2 laps
10 Pickett/Graf (Lola-AER) - 5 laps (3rd in LM P2)

Team Audi Sport North America lost the fight for the overall victory by just 1.783 seconds to the fastest LM P2 car after the two R10 TDI sportscars had been in the lead for almost the entire four-hour distance. The longer pit-stops, caused by the regulations, and tyre issues cost Audi any chance of the possible outright victory.

In humid and hot conditions, the two Audi R10 TDI prototypes were easing away from the start before Allan McNish suffered a left rear puncture in one of the fastest parts of track 45 minutes into the race. Despite that, both diesel-powered sportscars held a commanding 1-2 lead when a thunderstorm caused a more than 60-minute long intervention of the Safety Car allowing the competition to close the gap.

In the final stages of the race, Team Audi Sport North America did not take any risk by not changing the tyres on both R10 TDI cars. This caused Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro to drop behind the two "factory” Porsches. The exciting final laps saw the two Audi drivers pass one of the two lighter LM P2 cars and almost completely cancel out a 18-second gap to the second "factory” Porsche. The race was decided on the penultimate lap when both R10 TDI cars hit slower traffic in the long "Carousel” section making them lose valuable seconds.