BEST 2001 ALMS FINISH (SO FAR!) AT LAGUNA SECA
Monterey, Calif. - The penultimate round of the 2001 American Le Mans Series at California's Laguna Seca saw the best result (so far) this year for the Champion Racing Audi R8, as Johnny Herbert and Andy Wallace claimed second place in a hard-fought battle that renewed the Champion-Joest rivalry, most recently on display at Mosport.

Andy Wallace put the colorful prototype just sixth on the starting grid for the
2hr, 45min race, despite shaving a full second off the team's previous best time
of the week. Starter Johnny Herbert's careful driving put Champion up to fourth
on lap one, after two leading cars spun in the second corner.

But the preliminary decision came just before mid-distance: Magnussen retired
after clashing with Herbert, Tom Kristensen had to park the #1 Infineon Audi R8
due to clutch failure. As the second Panoz retired following collision damage
shortly afterwards, only the remaining Infineon Audi R8 of Frank Biela and Emanuele
Pirro and Champion's customer R8 remained in the frame for victory.

Herbert took the race lead when the Champion crew elected to leave him out during
a mid-race full-course caution. In the succeeding laps Herbert built up a lead
of over 28 seconds on the field, until he pitted just in time for Wallace to cover
sufficient distance for full points.

A 20 second penalty against Herbert because of the collision with Magnussen was
assessed after Wallace got in, and decided the race in favour of the Audi works
team - a post-penalty 38-second advantage Pirro had after his last pit stop shrank
rapidly because Andy Wallace had taken on fresh Michelins whereas the works team
went with no tire change. In the end, Pirro crossed the finish line just 1.6 seconds
ahead of a charging Wallace.
Quotes after the Race:

Johnny Herbert: "The start was hectic with cars touching each other at
Turn 2 and further around the opening lap but I survived. The car was handling
well and I quickly settled in to third place. It was a harsh decision to penalize
me when Magnussen and I made contact. It´s my best ALMS result in five starts
so hopefully we can go one better in Atlanta."

Andy Wallace: "The car was good which enabled me to push hard. We took
tires on while Pirro did not at his last stop and so that helped our cause, but
as it turned out we needed just another couple of laps. The Champion Audi team
have done a great job in recent races."

Laguna Seca Top Five finishers -

1. Biela/Pirro (Infineon Audi R8) 120 laps

2. Herbert/Wallace (Audi R8) + 1.602s

3. Johansson/Lemarié (Audi R8) - 1 lap

4. Taylor/Angelelli (Cadillac) - 3 laps

5. Tinseau/Collard (Cadillac) - 4 laps
.