ALMS:Luhr and Werner win at St Petersburg & Results

[Plex]

Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner scored a dramatic victory for Champion Audi in the second round of the American Le Mans Series at St Petersburg on Saturday, after coming out on top in a pitched battle against Romain Dumas in the Penske Racing Porsche Spyder RS.

Luhr and Dumas ran side-by-side several times along the pit-straight in the last half an hour of a crash-strewn, chaotic encounter on the 1.8-mile street track.

But in the end, the nimble LMP2 RS Spyder simply couldn't match the torque of the powerful diesel-powered LMP1 TDI into Turn One, and following a final late-race caution period Luhr ran off the final laps to take the victory.

There was consolation for Dumas and teammate Timo Bernhard, who notched up the team's 13th consecutive victory in LMP2.

David Brabham brought the Highcroft Racing Acura home third after a similarly intense battle with the sister Penske Porsche driven by Patrick Long, which was at the centre of more than one excursion on a track that put precise passing of back-markers at a premium.

Both drivers inherited their positions however, after the Dyson Racing Porsche Spyder of Guy Smith peeled into the pits from a secure third position at the end of the previous caution period with a slow puncture.

The Englishman, a former Le Mans 24 Hours winner, finally finished a disappointing fifth ahead of the Andretti Green Racing Acura driven by Bryan Herta and Christian Fittipaldi.

Luhr's Audi was in fact the only LMP1 car to make the finish in a race that witnessed three multi-car accidents. The sister Audi, driven by Frank Biela and Emmanuele Pirro, was retired after the Italian made an ill-advised attempt to pass Adrian Fernandez's Acura at Turn Four on lap 64, 90 minutes into the two-hour race.

The Mexican would return to the track to bring the Lowe's car home seventh in the LMP2 class.

Jon Field's Intersport Lola LMP1 also retired after sustaining heavy damage when he spun while trying to defend sixth position on lap 34, bringing out the second of four caution flags.

Perhaps the biggest shunt of all however came about when Long clipped Joel Feinberg's Dodge Viper while lapping him. Feinberg could only sit and watch as his prone car was hit hard by Terry Borcheller's Aston Martin. Both cars were heavily damaged, both drivers were not, but the operation to clean up the debris was significant and lengthy.

Indeed the casualty rate was high in the competitive GT2 category, with both Risi Competizione Ferraris running into trouble. The front-running car of Mika Salo and Jaime Melo nearly cooked the Finn when the air conditioning broke, forcing the former Formula One driver to pit earlier than scheduled.

Then as Melo embarked on a comeback drive, the electronics on the F430 GT gave up for good.

The sister car of Patrick Friesacher and Harrison Brix was also running strongly when the Austrian former Minardi driver shot off down an escape road having clipped Butch Leitzinger's spun Dyson Porsche Spyder - the American having lost control while fighting the hard-charging Long.

Through all the carnage came Dirk Muller in the Tafel Racing Ferrari to take the win. The German had in fact passed Flying Lizard Porsche driver Jorg Bergmeister on track for the lead of GT2 before the latter also collected Leitzinger's stricken Spyder.

Even the normally sedate GT1 category had drama as the two factory Corvette C6.Rs changed position on the last lap with the Oliver Gavin/Olivier Beretta example beating that of Jan Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell.

Pos Cl Drivers Car Laps
1. P1 Luhr/Werner Audi R10 TDI 81
2. P2 Dumas/Bernhard Porsche RS Spyder 81
3. P2 Brabham/Sharp Acura ARX-01b 81
4. P2 Maassen/Long Porsche RS Spyder 81
5. P2 Dyson/Smith Porsche RS Spyder 81
6. P2 Herta/Fittipaldi Acura ARX-01b 80
7. P2 Bonilla/Devlin Mazda Lola B07-46 80
8. GT Gavin/Beretta Corvette C6.R 79
9. GT O'Connell/Magnussen Corvette C6.R 79
10. P2 Fernandez/Diaz Acura ARX-01b 78
11. GT Farnbacher/Muller Ferrari 430 GT 77
12. GT van Overbeek/Pilet Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 77
13. GT Werner/Basseng Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 76
14. GT Jeannette/Mowlem Ferrari 430 GT 76
15. GT Brix/Friesacher Ferrari 430 GT 75
16. GT Hand/Milner/Sutherland Panoz Esperante 75
17. GT Neiman/Law Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 74
18. GT Gigliotti/Peterson Riley Corvette C6 74
19. P2 van der Steur/Pecorari Radical SR9 AER 74
20. P2 Leitzinger/Franchitti Porsche RS Spyder 71
21. GT Bergmeister/Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 71
22. GT Salo/Melo Ferrari 430 GT 69
23. GT Robertson/Murry Doran Ford GT Mk.VII 64
24. P1 Biela/Pirro Audi R10 TDI 63
25. GT Borcheller/Ducote Aston Martin DBR9 48
26. P1 Field/Dayton/Berry Lola B06/10 AER 33
27. GT Feinberg/Hall Dodge Viper Comp Cou 20
28. GT Carrapatoso/Swartzbaugh/Stanton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR -
29. GT Drayson/Cocker Aston Martin DBRS9 -

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