As fans watched, Allan McNish clinched the driver championship and brought the crocodile-motif Audi R8 to the finish line 21 laps ahead of the competition, along with Italy's Rinaldo Capello, co-driver to five wins of the last seven ALMS races.
Despite a sore back that had threatened to keep him out of the race earlier in the week, McNish scored a dominating victory in the six-hour sports car endurance race. McNish started the race and also drove the final stint on the 2.4-mile circuit, but was not at the circuit on Saturday when teammate Capello qualified the car on the pole for the six-hour race.
"The car was very good all day," said McNish, who will be honored at an awards banquet Monday night in Adelaide. "We did the hard work at the beginning."
The second-place finisher was a Lola B2K driven by Franz Konrad, Charlie Slater and Alan Heath, while the GTS-class Dodge Viper of Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy finished third. Beretta won his second ALMS GTS title in the race after he qualified a Chrysler Viper fastest in the GTS class.
A second Viper driven by Ni Amorim and Jean-Philippe Belloc finished fourth, with the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Dirk Muller and Sascha Maassen fifth. Muller clinched the 2000 championship, winning the three-way battle for the GT class title with Bob Wollek and Sascha Maassen.
Australian David Brabham, and co-drivers Jason Bright of Australia and Greg Murphy of New Zealand formed an "All Down Under" team. Photographed wearing khaki crocodile hunter clothing, replete with hats and high-powered rifles, the team dubbed itself "The Crocodile Hunters." Unfortunately for them, the crocodile out ran them.
Below are the final results of Sunday's American Le Mans Series Race of a Thousand Years sports car endurance race at 2.4-mile Adelaide street circuit with starting position in parentheses, driver, U.S. hometown or country, type car, laps completed, reason out, and winning time:
1. (1) Allan McNish, Scotland; Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Audi R8, 225 laps, 5:45:11.
2. (9) Franz Konrad, Germany; Charlie Slater, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Alan Heath, Australia; Lola B2K, 204.
3. (10) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Karl Wendlinger, Austria; Dominique Dupuy, France; Chrysler Viper GTS-R, 202.
4. (11) Jean-Philippe Belloc, France; Ni Amorim, Portugal; Chrysler Viper GTS-R, 202.
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