ALMS:AUDI, ACURA START SEASON WITH SEBRING WINS

[Plex]

Audi won for the eighth straight year, Acura posted a first- and second-place class finish in its American Le Mans Series debut and Ferrari won in GT2 in the closest finish in race history on Saturday at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Marco Werner crossed the finish line after 363 laps as he, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro kept the diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI undefeated with nine race wins in as many starts.

He win was Biela's fourth at Sebring and ties him with teammate Tom Kristensen for most in race history. Werner won for the third time in five years and Pirro took victory for the first time since 2000, the first race for the Audi R8.

Werner was seven laps up on Bryan Herta in the Andretti Green Racing Acura ARX LMP2 entry that he shared with Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. They were followed by another Acura-powered entry, the Lowe's Fernandez Racing Lola of Adrian Fernandez, Luis Diaz and David Martinez. It gave Acura an impressive second-and third-place overall showing in its highly anticipated first race.

In GT1, Corvette Racing won its class for the fifth time in six years as Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis took a 17-second victory over their sister car in a race that saw the two Corvettes on the same lap the entire way. Beretta and Gavin won last year with Jan Magnussen, who teamed this year with Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell.

The race marked the last at Sebring for Corvette Racing pioneer Ron Fellows.

For the second year in a row, the GT2 class finish set a record for the closest margin of victory. Risi Competizione and its stable of drivers gave Ferrari its first class win at Sebring since 1998 as the trio of Jaime Melo, Mika Salo and Johnny Mowlem posted a 0.20-second victory over Flying Lizard Motorsports' Porsche of J�rg Bergmeister, Johannes van Overbeek and Marc Lieb.

The battle between the Ferrari and Porsche lasted throughout the entire day. The Ferrari survived start from the rear of the grid, a late drama in pit lane with a 20-second penalty and a Turn 17 spin at sunset for the team's fifth win in the last seven events dating back to July of 2006 at Salt Lake City. Tafel Racing's Porsche of Wolf Henzler, Robin Liddell and Patrick Long.

Americanlemans

[3stagevtec]

Acura 1st & 2nd in their class and 2nd & 3rd overall...

but the last lap drama in the GT2 class! porsche catches ferrari, porsche passes ferrari, ferrari then passes back porsche on the last corner in true racing fashion... i was screaming at the TV during the entire scenario... ...
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Never interupt your enemy when he is making a mistake...

[Plex]

Acura has done well, was watching it last night...

[Rory Phoulorie]

Aston Martin seems to be lost. What went went wrong?