Capello passed Penske Racing's Romain Dumas at the nine-hour mark down the backstretch Saturday and used the torque and power of the Audi R10 TDI to win the 10th running of the American Le Mans Series cornerstone event at Road Atlanta. McNish and Capello captured the first overall victory for Audi since St. Petersburg in March and completed another Audi sweep of the world's premier endurance events: Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans.
Capello's drive also was a championship-winning one as he and McNish claimed their second straight LMP1 drivers title. Audi now has won 21 consecutive races in class.
Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Patrick Long won in LMP2 but it could have been a landmark win for a Penske and Porsche effort that had taken the previous eight overall wins. The margin of victory was the closest in the race's 10 years.
Capello made the winning move shortly after a restart with a half-hour remaining. The two drivers had to dice and weave through four classes of cars in the darkness to the checkered flag.
Dumas drove the last hour on a single set of tires and tank of fuel in a heroic effort that also clinched the P2 championship for himself and Bernhard. It is the first for Dumas and second for Bernhard.
Dumas finished eight laps up on the No. 20 Dyson Racing Porsche of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith, who recorded their best finish of the season. Third in class and fourth overall was the factory Zytek No. 5 of Jan Charouz, Stefan Mucke and Danny Watts.
Next was the No. 88 Creation Autosportif entry of Jamie Campbell-Walter, Harold Primat and Christophe Tinseau, which finished second in P1.
Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta wrapped up their third straight GT1 championship with a class victory in the No. 4 Corvette C6.R with Max Papis. The trio survived the carnage as both the No. 3 Corvette and Lista Doran Racing's pole-sitting Maserati MC12 went out of the race with accidents.
Gavin, Beretta and Papis repeated their 12-hour win at Sebring with a smooth and consistent run. Their only scary moment was a tap by the No. 2 Audi going through the Esses which sent the Audi off track and into the outside wall.
Flying Lizard Motorsports led a Porsche parade in GT2 as Jörg Bergmeister, Johannes van Overbeek and Marc Lieb drove the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to a three-lap victory over the Tafel Racing entry of Dominik Farnbacher and Wolf Henzler.
The victory for the Lizard Porsche and the sixth-place finish for Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo and Mika Salo means that the GT2 championship will go down to the wire at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Melo, Salo and Johnny Mowlem were leading much of the first half of the race until an electrical problem with the Ferrari F430 GT's brake lights.
Ralf Kelleners, Tom Milner and Graham Rahal placed third in class Saturday in Rahal Letterman Racing's Porsche after running second on the final lap before spinning. Milner finished a lap behind the Tafel car. The top five cars in class were Porsches.
Petit Le Mans
Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.
Saturday's results
1. (1) Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Allan McNish, Scotland; Audi AG/R10/TDI (1, P1), 394.
2. (2) Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (2, P2), 394.
3. (3) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (3, P2), 386.
4. (4) Stefan Mucke, Germany; Danny Watts, UK; Jan Charouz, Czech-Republic; Zytek 073/Zytek (4, P2), 383.
5. (5) Jamie Campbell-Walter, England; Harold Primat, Switzerland; Christophe Tinseau, France; Creation CA 07/Judd (5, P1), 377.
6. (6) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Andy Lally, New York, NY; Andy Wallace, England; Porsche RS Spyder (6, P2), 372.
7. (7) Sascha Maassen, Germany; Emmanuel Collard, France; Ryan Briscoe, Australia; Porsche RS Spyder (7, P2), 370.
8. (8) David Brabham, Australia; Stefan Johansson, Sweden; Robbie Kerr, UK; Acura/ARX-01a (8, P2), 365.
9. (9) Oliver Gavin, England; Max Papis, Italy; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Corvette C6.R (9, GT1), 364.
10. (10) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (10, GT2), 353.
11. (11) Wolf Henzler, Germany; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (11, GT2), 351.
12. (12) Jamie Bach, Saukville, WI; Raphael Matos, Brazil; Ben Devlin, England; Lola/B07-40/Mazda (12, P2), 350, Gearbox.
13. (13) Ralf Kelleners, Germany; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Graham Rahal, New Albany, OH; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (13, GT2), 350.
14. (14) Klaus Graf, Germany; Memo Gidley, San Rafael, CA; Greg Pickett, Alamo, CA; Lola B06/10 AER (14, P1), 346.
15. (15) Terry Borcheller, Vero Beach, FL; Marc Basseng, Germany; Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (15, GT2), 342.
16. (16) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (16, GT2), 341.
17. (17) Lucas Luhr, Germany; Marco Werner, Germany; Audi AG/R10/TDI (17, P1), 330.
18. (18) Jaime Melo, Brazil; Johnny Mowlem, England; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta (18, GT2), 330.
19. (19) Didier Theys, Belgium; Fredy Lienhard Sr., Switzerland; Andrea Bertolini, Italy; Maserati MC 12 (19, GT1), 314, Accident.
20. (20) Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Creation CA06H/Judd (20, P1), 304.
21. (21) Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Tom Kimber-Smith, England; Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Panoz Esperante GTLM (21, GT2), 302.
22. (22) Tom Chilton, Horely, UK; Darren Manning, England; Zytek Z07S/Zytek (22, P1), 288, Fuel Pressure.
23. (23) Nic Jonsson, Sweden; Darren Turner, England; Tracy Krohn, Houston, TX; Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta (23, GT2), 279, Oil Pump.
24. (24) Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Tony Kanaan, Brazil; Vitor Meira, Brazil; Acura/ARX-01a (24, P2), 0, Accident.
25. (25) Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Luis Diaz, Mexico; Lola/B06-43/Acura (25, P2), 0, Mechanical.
26. (26) Nathan Swartzbaugh, La Habra Heights, LA; Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Lars Nielsen, Denmark; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (26, GT2), 0.
27. (27) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Panoz Esperante GTLM Elan (27, GT2), 0, Drivetrain.
28. (28) Dirk Mueller, Germany; Peter Dumbreck, Scotland; Ferrari 430GT (28, GT2), 0.
29. (29) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Creation/CA06H/Judd (29, P1), 0, Accident.
30. (30) Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Johnny O`Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Ron Fellows, Canada; Corvette C6.R (30, GT1), 0, Accident.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/10/85272