The manufacturer is the first with five consecutive wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
By BRANT JAMES
Published March 21, 2004
SEBRING - The lanky German in the champagne-soaked fire suit pinched bubbles from his eye sockets and stopped as a fan extended his non-beer hand forward for a shake.
"Great race, man."
"Thank you."
"What's your name?"
"Frank."
Uh, boy. Frank as in Biela, as in the guy who just helped extend Audi's domination of the 12 Hours of Sebring to a record fifth consecutive year on Saturday. Frank as in the man who joined Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien and Hans Stuck as the race's all-time leader in wins with three. Frank, the three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner. Frank, the patient.
"To be honest, I did not know about this until one of our press guys told me an hour ago," Biela said. "It's a nice feeling, really. It's something you think about once you have it."
Biela and teammates Allan McNish and Pierre Kaffer took the lead halfway through and rode the No. 28 Audi R8 Prototype 1 to an overall victory by five laps in the American Le Mans Series opener. They completed 350 laps.
A part of the winning Audi team for a second straight year, the 39-year-old Biela (pronounced Beela) set the ALMS record with 15 wins in its top class.
A race that began as an adventure for Audi was settled by a routine pass with more than half of the event remaining. After the No. 88 Audi team of Guy Smith, Johnny Herbert and Jamie Davies took the lead at the 5-hour, 31-minute mark on a pit cycle, Kaffer chased down Smith for the lead within 20 minutes. His team led the rest of the way.
Champion Racing was runnerup for a second straight year, this time in the pole-sitting No. 38 Audi R8 driven by JJ Lehto, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner, followed by the No. 88 Team Veloqx Audi.
Cape Coral-based American Spirit Racing won the Prototype 2 class (23rd overall) in the No. 10 Lola B2K/40/Nissan. Corvette Racing's No. 3 team (fourth overall) won the GTS and Alex Job Racing's No. 23 Porsche 911 GT3 RS was best in GT (eighth overall). The GT win was the fourth consecutive and sixth all-time for the Tavares-based team, giving it an ALMS-record 26 overall wins. The team endured the last six hours with two drivers after Jorg Bergmeister stopped because he was feeling ill.
The GTS victory was historic for co-drivers Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell. Fellows improved his all-time best ALMS GTS win total to 17 and O'Connell added his record-setting sixth class victory at Sebring.
The Audis took turns dodging trouble, specifically cars in other classes, and trading the lead in the early stages.
"In a long-distance race, that is part of the game," Biela said. "I think all of the three (Audi) cars were competitive and then it's up to the drivers to keep this thing out of trouble."
First, the No. 38 Audi went into the grass when defending series and race champion Werner lost control in a hairpin four hours in. Minutes later he was pinched wide on a turn by two Porsche GTs. The Audi returned with a new radiator and door panels but went eight laps down and did not challenge for the lead again.
Biela's team held a 5.7-second lead halfway through but sustained body damage when he rubbed tires with another car. Kaffer waited just 20 seconds for his crew to replace the rear body of the car, and quickly reclaimed the lead from Smith.
The Team Veloqx No. 88, running second overall, had trouble of its own at the 6-hour, 40-minute mark when it began belching smoke and was taken to the paddock for engine repairs.
