After a week of warm and clear weather in the Sebring area,
race day dawned humid and much warmer than any day during practice or qualifying,
so in addition to being a tough endurance test for the cars, the Sebring 12
Hours would be a real test of driver fitness as well. A recent record 59 cars
took the flying start at 10:30am, and Andy Wallace (who had qualified the car)
made an excellent move from his fifth-place starting spot to move into third
place on the first lap, and then promptly set out after the two leading Joest
Audi R8's. Unfortunately, the technical advances of the factory Audis meant
that even our latest-spec 2001 R8 was falling back some three seconds per lap
to the two lead cars, despite the best efforts of driver and crew. If this race
was to be ours, it would have to be won in the pits, but even that would not
be possible unless the factory cars hit trouble at some point.

Wallace did a double stint to open the race (staying in the
car at the first fuel stop), but was over a lap down to the leaders when he
turned over to Stefan Johansson just after noontime. Johansson's experience
was just the same as Wallace's, and it remained a struggle to keep within one
or two laps of the factory cars. A tired Wallace exclaimed after getting out
of the car, "It's just bloody difficult. We simply can't match the factory cars
on speed, much less make up time, particularly when we're having to pass seven
or eight slower cars every lap."

As the day wore on the ADT/Champion Audi R8 held on to third
place as the factory cars traded the lead back and forth during pit stops. Johansson,
and then Lammers were able to remain within the same 1-2 lap margin from the
leaders, but could not make up ground. Whenever the Champion drivers set a quicker
lap time, the leaders would pick up their pace to match, keeping the gap from
closing. Of great help in the fight were our fantastic Michelin tires, which
were able to be double-stinted, and which actually performed better in their
second stints than their first! Every driver set his fastest times of his double
stint in the second half, when the Michelins were already more than a full stint
old. This allowed the team to keep pushing to the maximum extent, despite track
temperatures exceeding 118 degrees F.

The #1 (red) Joest Audi was forced to pit several times to replace
the car's nose bodywork after on-course contact with another car. Late in the
afternoon it pitted again with its front tray full of steering fluid. These
stops allowed Champion to move into second place, but only just. Then the #1
Audi had a very long pit stop to fully replace the steering rack, which effectively
dropped them far enough down the standings that it was a straight fight between
Champion and the #2 (yellow) factory Audi for the win.

Through the supreme efforts of drivers and crew alike, including
some effective pit strategy by Crew Chief Brad Kettler during the long full-course
caution near sunset, the ADT/Champion Audi R8 was able to regain the lead lap
as the field raced into nighttime, and hold onto the lead lap position, staying
in contention for the finish. All the drivers were using the car's maximum capabilities
just to stay on the lead lap though, and were again unable to make any headway
from there to close the gap to the lead car. But despite making two fewer pit
stops than the lead car, and despite a mechanically flawless run for the full
12 hours, the lead factory Audi did not falter, and we were simply unable to
catch them despite our best efforts. In the end Champion had to settle for a
"best of the rest" second place finish, but the whole team was upbeat nevertheless.

"We did everything we could", said Champion Racing team owner
Dave Maraj. "All of our careful preparation and the work of three great drivers
were just no match for the factory cars today," Maraj continued, "I am proud
of Andy, Stefan and Jan, and my whole crew for their tremendous work under these
conditions. We are very pleased to be on the Podium here at Sebring, a race
which has such an important place in the history of sportscar racing, as well
as being a home race for Champion with all our friends and family here. And
we are proud to take our new primary sponsor, ADT Security Services, to the
Winner's Circle in just their first race with us."

With the postponement of the ALMS Miami race from April to October,
the next event for the ADT/Champion Audi R8 will be at Sears Point, on 19 May.