MONTEREY, Calif. - The Infineon Team Joest Audi R8 of Frank Biela and Marco Werner scored a dominating win in Sunday's American Le Mans Series Fry's Electronics Sports Car Championships event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Biela scored an overall win for the third consecutive year at the 2.238-mile circuit, while co-driver Werner won in his first appearance at the track. It was the fourth overall win for the duo in seven ALMS races this year and placed them in command of the race for the LMP 900 class driver's championship.
"One of our goals at the start of the season was to win the championship," said Biela, who drove for the former works Audi team the past three seasons. "The team won the championship the past three years, and this year maybe it's my turn and Marco's turn to win the driving championship."
James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger finished second overall but won the LMP 675 class in the Dyson Racing Lola EX257-MG. Other than the winning Audi, the Dyson entry was the only car to lead the two-hour, 45-minute sports car race and finished on the lead lap, 1:22.283 behind the winner.
"We just got beaten today," said Leitzinger, who managed to bring the Dyson entry home on the lead lap, just in front of the winning car. "It was a constant battle out there with traffic, but we really didn't have anything for the Audi today. It's nice to get the class win, but we're after the overall win."
Finishing third overall and second in P900 was the Panoz LMP01 of Olivier Beretta and David Saelens and JML team Panoz, while the ADT Champion Racing Audi R8 of JJ Lehto and Johnny Herbert finished third in P900 and fourth overall. The Essex Racing Lola B2K40-Nissan of Jason Workman and Scott Bradley finished second in the LMP 675 class, while third went to the Intersport Lola-MG of Jon Field and Duncan Dayton.
Jan Magnussen and David Brabham scored their second GTS class win of the season in the Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello, awarded the win after their team car was excluded from the event due to a technical violation.
The Ferrari of Tomas Enge and Peter Kox had apparently won the race but was excluded from the event after the car failed to pass the "stall test" that is administered in post-race inspection. Due to the exclusion, Brabham and Magnussen, who had finished second, were awarded the win, while the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell was elevated to second place.
Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr won the GT class in the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RS, clinching their second consecutive GT class driving championship in the process. They finished a lap ahead of the Risi Competizione Ferrari 360 Modena of Anthony Lazzaro and Ralf Kelleners, while third in class went to the White Lightning/Petersen Motorsports Porsche of Craig Stanton and Johnny Mowlem.
A tangle involving several cars on the first turn of the first lap caused Maassen to lose five spots on the start of the race from his GT class pole, but he quickly regained the lead and the car was never seriously challenged.
The next race for the American Le Mans Series will be Grand Prix Americas on the Miami Downtown Street Circuit on Sept. 27.
The finish, with starting position in parentheses, drivers, hometown or country, type car (class), laps completed, reason out if any, winning time and margin of victory:
