Once again Audi took the lead when McNish took the wheel an hour into the race. The Audi R8 # 78 driven by Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello, took its third consecutive ALMS win. It is the fifth overall win for the Audi Team.
The team had an opportunity to test at the circuit between the Sears Point and Mosport, which allowed them to get a basic setup on the car for the two-hour and forty-five minute event.
"This track is very interesting, but it won't be easy," said Audi driver Emanuele Pirro, prior to the race. "Most decisive is the long snaking combination of corners that tolerates different lines. I'm convinced that only one line can be really fast. It's undoubtedly an advantage to be familiar with the circuit."
It appears they used the advantage even though there was contact early in the race between #78 and the GT Porsche 911 driven by Dirk Muller.
"The team did a really good job in the pits to keep us on the lead lap," said McNish. "Unfortunately we got together with a GT car, but sometimes that happens. When I saw the incident, I thought the race was over. The car was very good, but we had to fight very hard to get back into victory lane." And fight they did, to come up with a victory with a 57.486 second lead. David Brabham and Jan Magnussen took second in the LMP1 Panoz Roadster. "It was a fight since second yellow, said Brabham." Michelin tires did a great job and the car was handling well."
BMW drivers Jorg Muller and J.J. Lehto managed to come in third. BMW driver Muller is currently chasing the Drivers Championship, and at the last race at Texas, his teammates, Bill Auberlen and Jean Marc Gounon allowed Muller's BMW to pass them at the end of the race. At the end of July the BMW team also tested in Portland, but was very disappointed in their lap times.
This season Muller/Lehto have won only two races to date. J.J. Lehto expressed the team's sentiments when he said, "We are beyond frustration. The 1999 car is just not as fast as the Audi."
