Audi won another unchallenged victory at the Texas Motor Speedway at the start of the second half of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The two Audi R8's dominated the race from start to finish lapping all competitors at least one time. Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello set the pace for most of the two hours and forty-five minutes, but ended up winning second place behind their teammates Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro when the communication between the pits and Capello's R8 broke down. While Biela refueled during the last caution period, Capello was forced to come in for a late bit of fuel ten minutes before the end of the race, leaving the victory to Biela and Pirro. Audi took the lead in the manufacturers championship of the American Le Mans Series with their third one-two victory of the season. and all four Audi drivers closed the gap to the driver's championship.
"This was a very good and a very important weekend for us," said Frank Biella. "Both R8's were very close together all the time. We were able to put pressure on the Allan and Dindo, which was not always the case in the last races. We lost some time during the first two stints. Then came another caution period which was the key to success because I pitted for fuel immediately. The plan worked perfect. You have to take your chances."
It was radio problems and not the car that kept #77 from the lead. "I am really destroyed," said the second place finishing Rinaldo Capello. "The car was perfect, I had no problems at all, just that the radio stopped working the lap before the last caution period. I got the message that I was five seconds ahead of Frank. When I saw the yellow flags I called the pits but got no answer. Unfortunately it is the only track where we can't use pit boards for the communication. So it was really bad luck." Australia's David Brabham finished third with Jan Magnussen aboard their Panoz LMP-1. "ŠWe had no chance of catching the Audis today. Said Brabham. "Every race we learn more about our car and are improving the package all the time. The team is working very hard to bridge the gap, but we will have to wait and see next week at Portland. I won there last year, so it would certainly be nice to repeat that effort."
