TOOELE — It took nearly two hours and 56 laps for the diesel powerhouse to overcome a couple of mistakes and strong run by a lower-class gas-powered car to take the lead and exercise its dominance. But it did and won, but by only three seconds ahead of the runner-up.
The team of Frank Biela of Germany and Emanuele Pirro of Italy drove the Audi No. 1 car to a win after 65 laps.
With 10 minutes to go, the No. 1 Audi diesel-powered race car held a slight lead over a Porsche Spyder in the American Le Mans Series race at the Miller Motorsports Park on Saturday.
The task then fell on Pirro to hold off a strong run by Lucas Luhr of Monaco.
Pirro said it was difficult because the tires were starting to wear and it was harder to keep up speed.
"I tried not to make a mistake. I knew if I didn't, (Luhr) could not get by me," he said.
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The Audi is in the P1 class, the Porsche in the P2. In third overall was the team of James Weaver of England and Butch Leitzinger of the United States in a Lola B06.
Four turns into the race it looked as if the No. 1 Audi was out of the running.
Biela, who started in the pole position, turned the lead over to teammate Allan McNish of Monaco in car No. 2 when he went wide on the fourth turn of the race and dropped to 3rd. Seven laps later he made his second mistake and fell back to 6th.
Biela said he was not happy with his driving. "I went off in turn 4 because the tires weren't warm enough. I was overtaking the Ferrari and he was closing the door, and I had to hit the brakes and it came around. I'm disappointed because we were doing so good this weekend," he said.
One hour and 10 minutes into the race he turned driving duties over to Pirro, who steadily worked his way back into the lead. He moved into second with 20 minutes remaining in the 2-hour, 45-minute race.
In a surprising turn, the two Porsche RS Spyders, in the P2 class, shared leads late in the race, holding off the two Audis.
Then, around the two-hour mark, things took a strange twist. The No. 2 Audi, which was leading and being driven by Rinaldo Capello, who replaced Allan McNish, suffered a puncture on one tire and pulled into the pit.
Then the No. 7 Porsche, driven by Romain Dumas of Basel, Switzerland, encountered mechanical problems and pulled out after 53 laps. That put Pirro in the lead and Luhr, in the No. 6 Porsche, in a battle for the win.
Pirro took the lead with only nine minutes left in the race.
Rinaldo Capello, who was driving the No. 2 Audi, finished 4th.
The twin Audi diesels were the pre-race favorites. They qualified 1-2 for this event and have been the cars to beat in the four earlier series events.
McNish, of Monaco, took over the lead from Biela and deftly stayed there for the first hour, increasing his lead with each new lap.
After the first hour, 22 laps into the race, McNish had extended his lead to nearly one minute. Biela managed to move up from 6th to 3rd at this point, but was still nearly a minute behind the leader.
On the 25th lap, McNish pulled into the pit, fueled and turned driving duties over to Rinaldo Capello of Italy. The stop put Biela, who chose to delay his pit stop, into the lead and dropped Capello into third.
The two Porsches share leads in the second half of the race.
Sascha Maassen of Belgium, the No. 6 Porsche, took the lead 1 hour, 15 minutes into the race. After the pit stop, Luhr took over driving and pressed Pirro to the finish.
Winning the Grand Touring 1 class was Tomas Enge of the Czech Republic and Darren Turner of England. Winning the GT2 class was Mika Salo of Finland and Jaime Melo of Brazil.
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