Audi Team Wins in Closest Sebring Finish Ever

The race was run from start to finish without a caution period and in front of a crowd estimated at 168,000, the largest sports car race attendance ever in the United States.

Capello, driving the final stint, beat Audi teammate Tom Kristensen by .482 second at the finish. Kristensen, who had been leading, was penalized forexceeding the pit road speed limit on his final pit stop, which came with 40 minutes remaining in the race. He made up a deficit of almost 25 seconds on the 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway before falling short at the end.

Kristensen and co-drivers Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro had been going for their second straight win in the Sebring event, and Kristensen had been going for his third consecutive.

Audi took the top four spots, with the private entry driven by Andy Wallace, Dorsey Schroeder and Ralf Kelleners finishing third and the car of Stefan Johanssen and Guy Smith fourth.

The GTS class was won by a Saleen S7R driven by Franz Konrad, Terry Borcheller and Oliver Gavin, the first win in the American Le Mans Series for the American-built Saleen. The car finished sixth overall in the 38-car field.

The GT class was won by the Porsche 911 GT3 RS driven by Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr and Emmanuel Collard, finishing eighth overall.

The winning car averaged 113.983 mph for the 12-hour distance.

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