Petit Le Mans

Frank Biela (#2)
�The race was not easy, and I had some big moments during my first two stints.
You had to leave the race line very often because of the heavy traffic. That´s why
I got pick-up on the tyres and went off more than once. Apart from that the car
was perfect. I enjoyed the race very much from the first to the last minute. I feel
sorry for Dindo and Tom that it was decided in this way. But that´s racing. For us
though it has been a perfect race. This result makes me feel happy.�

Emanuele Pirro (#2)
�The race was very hard and very hot. Not in temperature but in terms of
competition, especially at the beginning. We tried to keep out of trouble and we
succeeded. Of course I am really happy about the title. The only sad thing is that
I am not able to share the title with Frank who has done exactly the same job
and not one percent less than I did. Dindo and Tom also did a great
championship. It would have been nice to have all four of us in first place. I also
want to give a thought to the people who can not celebrate because of the
problems that are going on in the world now. If I could give the championship
away for a little bit of peace I would do it.�

Rinaldo Capello (#1)
�Of course I am disappointed for Tom and me because we were still hoping to
win the championship. It is unbelievable that we retired three times in the last
six races. This never happened in the past and I hope it will never happen
again. Tom and me showed everybody that we are quick enough to win the
championship. But we had some bad luck at the end of the season.
Congratulations to Emanuele and of course to Frank. Both of them had a great
season winning Le Mans and Emanuele winning the championship. I am
happy for them.�

Tom Kristensen (#1)
�I am happy to be okay. The car proved to be very strong because it was the
biggest impact I have ever had in my whole career. When I braked for Turn 1,
everything was fine, but when I accelerated and steered more, the car just went
straight. I suddenly lost so much front end grip, that I thought I had a puncture.
But after having checked all the data it looks like there was pick-up on the front
left tyre and the compound appeared to have broken loose. Frank had similar
problems later on. But he was warned after my accident while I was completely
surprised. Hats off for Emanuele and Frank.�

Stefan Johansson (#18)
�I suffered a stop-and-go penalty early on when I was adjudged to have
overtaken Pirro before the green flag after a caution period but I thought he was
slowing. It was a really fun race but frantic from start to finish involving pure
racing. The Audi ran strongly throughout - a great car.�

Patrick Lemarié (#18)
�After three hours I served a 20-secs penalty because a mechanic had cleaned
the brake duct while the car was being re-fuelled. The car was superb, I was
really enjoying myself, but I lost a lot of time when we needed to change the
rear body section due to a rear light problem. That looked to have cost us any
chance of finishing second but then Herbert hit trouble.�

Johnny Herbert (#38)
�I had enjoyed a pretty steady race until 50 minutes from the end when I lost the
rear brakes. The car had been superb until that point and we looked good for a
solid second - there was nothing we could do about the Pirro/Biela Audi, they
were just too fast.�

Andy Wallace (#38)
�When I took over from Johnny I felt a bad vibration through a front wheel which
lost me time. We got a penalty after almost three hours when I run over some
equipment in our pit area. Then a wheel centre broke on the left rear after seven
hours when we were placed second, just 45secs behind the leading Audi.�

Reinhold Joest, Team Director Audi Sport North America
�The beginning of the race was very turbulent. After the accident of Tom
Kristensen our chances to win the race had been cut in half very early. But I am
more than happy that we were still able to put a nice end to the season for Audi,
our team and the drivers.�

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Sport
�This victory was a great team effort. We had not a single problem with Frank´s
and Emanuele´s car. Of course, the end of the race for Tom and Dindo caused
by the accident is a pitty. But we had also an exciting battle with our two
customer cars. Congratulations to the Johansson and the Champion teams.�

2. (4) Stefan Johansson, Patrick Lemarie	Audi R8	391
3. (5) Andy Wallace, Johnny Herbert	Audi R8	388
4. (9) Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli, Christophe Tinseau	Cadillac LMP 01	382
5. (7) Emmanuel Collard, Marc Goossens	Cadillac LMP 01	364
6. (15) Kelly Collins, Andy Pilgrim, Franck Freon	Corvette C5-R	362
7. (13) Milka Duno, John Graham, Scott Maxwell	Reynard 01Q	361
8. (24) Hans Stuck, Boris Said, Bill Auberlen	BMW M3 GTR	360
9. (23) Jorg Muller, Dirk Muller	BMW M3 GTR	359
10. (3) Jan Magnussen, David Brabham	Panoz LMP-1	358
11. (28) Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen	Porsche 911	355
12. (22) JJ Lehto, Fredrik Ekblom, Karl Wendlinger	BMW M3 GTR	355
13. (16) Franz Konrad, Charlie Slater, Terry Borcheller	Saleen S7R	355
14. (25) Randy Pobst, Christian Menzel	Porsche 911	353
15. (19) Mike Hezemans, Anthony Kumpen	Viper GTS-R	349
16. (29) Johnny Mowlem, Mike Fitzgerald, Boullion	Porsche 911	344
17. (18) Ben Devlin, Jason Workman, Andrew Davis	Lola B2K-Nissan	341
18. (37) Tony Burgess, Stefano Buttiero, Hugh Plumb	Porsche 911	341
19. (32) Kye Wankum, Joe Foster, Doc Bundy	Porsche 911	329
20. (38) Stephen Earle, Bart Hayden, Hugh Hayden	Porsche 911	325
21. (36) Gary Schultheis, Scooter Gable, Doc Lowman	Porsche 911	324
22. (17) Chris Bingham, Ron Johnson, Oliver Gavin	Saleen S7R	312
23. (33) Joseph Policastro, Policastro Jr., Gunnar Jeannette	Porsche 911	253

25. (26) Tom Weickardt, Kevin Allen, Rick Fairbanks	Viper GTS-R	220
26. (11) Didier de Radigues, Bruno Lambert, Earl Goddard	Reynard 01Q	213

27. (14) Claudia Huertgen, Mel Hawkins, Steve Knight	Lola B2K	209	drive shaft
28. (34) Leo Hindery, Peter Baron, Tony Kester	Porsche 911	183	mechanical
29. (21) Walter Brun, Tony Seiler	Saleen S7R	152	clutch
30. (41) Grady Willingham, Taz Harvey, Sam Hancock	Porsche 911	137	accident
31. (27) Niclas Jonsson, Brian Cunningham, David Murry	BMW M3 GTR	136	mechanical
32. (30) Chris McMurry, Bryan Willman, Bret Arsenault	Pilbeam MP84	108	accident
33. (20) Rickard Rydell, Peter Kox, Marc Duez	Ferrari 550	103	mechanical
34. (8) James Weaver, Butch Leitzinger, Forbes-Robinson	Riley & Scott	94	clutch
35. (12) Jordi Gene, Yannick Schroeder, Jean Deletraz	Reynard 2KQ	60	engine
36. (40) Joe Ellis, John Cooper, Dino Steiner	Viper GTS-R	35	accident
37. (1) Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello	Audi R8	26	accident
38. (6) Klaus Graf, Franck Lagorce	Panoz LMP-1	23	engine

39. (35) Ralf Kelleners, Marino Franchitti, Kelvin Burt	Ferrari 360	excluded
40. (39) Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Scott Pruett	Corvette C5-R	excluded
41. (10) Jon Field, Rick Sutherland, Mark Neuhaus	Lola B2K 10B	excluded