Braselton, October 3, 2001


Emanuele Pirro carries the American Le Mans Series point lead into Saturday's running of Audi presents Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, and the Italian driver wasted no time on the opening day of practice in making sure that his car was at the top of the speed chart.

The Audi R8 co-driven by Pirro and Frank Biela led Wednesday's practice session at the 2.54-mile circuit with a fast lap of 1:11.703, more than half a second faster than the next machine. Pirro can win his first American Le Mans Series title in Saturday's 10-hour sports car endurance race.

1. Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro

2. Stefan Johansson, Patrick Lemarie

3. Andy Wallace, Johnny Herbert

4. Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen

5. Klaus Graf, Franck Lagorce

6. Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli, Christophe Tinseau

7. Eric Bernard, Emmanuel Collard, Marc Goossens

8. Jan Magnussen, David Brabham

9. James Weaver, Butch Leitzinger, Elliott Forbes-Robinson

10. Milka Duno, John Graham, Scott Maxwell

11. Didier de Radigues, Bruno Lambert, Earl Goddard

12. Steve Knight, Mel Hawkins, Claudia Huertgen

13. Jordi Gene, Yannick Schroeder, Jean-Denis Deletraz

14. Franz Konrad, Terry Borcheller, Charlie Slater

15. Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Scott Pruett

16. Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins, Franck Freon

17. Ben Devlin, Jason Workman, Andrew Davis

18. JJ Lehto, Fredrik Ekblom, Karl Wendlinger

19. Chris McMurray, Bryan Willman, Bret Arsenault

20. Jorg Muller, Dirk Muller

21. Chris Bingham, Ron Johnson, Oliver Gavin

22. Boris Said, Hans Stuck, Bill Auberlen

23. Jon Field, Rick Sutherland

24. Niclas Jonsson, Brian Cunningham, David Murry

25. Rickard Rydell, Peter Kox, Marc Duez

26. Randy Pobst, Christian Menzel

27. Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen

28. Shane Lewis, Bob Mazzuoccola, Cort Wagner

29. Mike Hezemans, Joeoen Bleekemolen, Anthony Kumpen

30. Michael Petersen, Johnny Mowlem, Christophe Boullion

31. Walter Brun

32. Kye Wankum, Joe Foster

33. Stephen E. Earle, Bart Hayden

34. Tony Burgess, Stefano Buttiero, Hugh Plumb

35. Grady Willingham, Taz Harvey, Derek Higgins

36. Joseph Policastro, Policastro Jr., Gunnar Jeannette

37. Leo Hindery, Peter Baron, Tony Kester

38. Ralf Kelleners, Marino Franchitti, Kelvin Burt

39. Tom Weickardt, Rick Fairbanks

The Johansson Motorsport Audi R8 of Stefan Johansson and Patrick Lemarie was second-fastest at 1:12.316 in Wednesday's session, followed by the Champion Audi of Johnny Herbert and Andy Wallace at 1:13.029. The second factory Audi of Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen was fourth at 1:13.171 to complete an Audi sweep of the top four.

Thirty-nine of the 46 cars on hand for the event participated in the practice session on Wednesday. Practice will continue on Thursday, with qualifying sessions set for Friday. The Petit Le Mans starts at 12 noon on Saturday.

The fast time of the day in the LMP 675 class for smaller Prototypes was set by the Dick Barbour Racing Reynard 01Q-Judd driven by John Graham, Milka Duno and Scott Maxwell. The car was clocked at 1:18.181, which was 10th fastest overall. The second Barbour car driven by LMP 675 champion Didier de Radigues, along with Bruno Lambert and Earl Goddard, was second-fastest at 1:18.740. There are eight entries in the class, the largest yet in the first-year class.

The GTS class was led by the Saleen S7R driven by Terry Borcheller, Franz Konrad and Charlie Slater at 1:19.826. Second-fastest was the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R of Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Scott Pruett at 1:20.988.

The BMW M3 GTR of JJ Lehto, Fredrik Ekblom and Karl Wendlinger led the GT class with a lap of 1:22.701, beating the 1:23.002 posted by the BMW Motorsport team car of Jorg Muller and Dirk Muller.

Saturday's race will be televised live by the Speedvision Network beginning at 11:30 a.m. The live broadcast by the American Le Mans Series Radio Web can be heard online at

At 2:00, green flag
At 3:00, checkered flag

Magnussen, Brabham

Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen

Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro

ALMS Combined P900, P675, GTS and GT practice (2-hour session):
At 7:00, green flagAt 9:00, checkered flag
A total of 39 cars practiced. Only the
#22-GT (engine change),
#35-GT (mechanical),
#47-GT (withdrawn) and
#50-P900 (structurale problems)
did not participate

Tom Kristensen

Emanuele Pirro

Andy Wallace

At 8:00, green flag
At 8:02, black flag all – debris on the track between turns 10 and 12 at the top of the hill. Car #18-P900 Audi R8 lost the front bodywork on the track.
At 8:08, green flag.
At 8:12, black flag all – car #31-P675 Pilbeam MP84/Nissan has stopped on course at turn 10 needing a tow for a flat right rear tire.
At 8:20, green flag.
At 8:31, 33 cars have been on the track so far. BMW Motorsport has repaired the #42-GT BMW M3 GTR, but has elected not to practice with either car this morning. At 8:50, Michelin tire engineers report the track temperature is 61 degrees.
At 8:52, car #51-P900 Panoz LMP1 Roadster S is stalled on course with no brakes at turn 10 and will require a tow at the end of the session.
At 9:00, checkered flag.
37 cars posted times.

Emanuele Pirro

Tom Kristensen

David Brabham

Driver

Tom Kristensen

Emanuele Pirro

David Brabham

Stephan Johansson

Johnny Herbert

Klaus Graf