The leading No. 2 Audi

Bob Heathcote

Audi’s two R10 TDIs sat 1-2 at the halfway point of the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday afternoon with Marco Werner leading Dindo Capello by 13.177 seconds. The two diesel entries were the first of five cars on the lead lap as the season-opening race for the American Le Mans Series entered the seventh hour.

Audi took control in the third hour when the race-leading Peugeot spent significant time in the pit lane with mechanics working on the hydraulics of the factory prototype. Nic Minassian and Pedro Lamy had dominated the early going for the Peugeot, leading by more than 30 seconds over the Audis, Penske Racing’s Porsche RS Spyder and Andretti Green Racing’s Acura ARX-01b. Marco Andretti drove the opening three stints for AGR and took the overall lead into the second hour, following in the footsteps of grandfather Mario, who last led at Sebring as he won the race for the third time in 1972.

Emmanuel Collard ran third overall and first in LMP2 in Penske’s lone remaining RS Spyder. The No. 6 entry was retired early due to overheating. Second in class was Chris Dyson in Dyson Racing’s first Porsche followed by the lead Acura ARX-10b of Andretti Green Racing and driver Bryan Herta.

Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen led GT1 by 10 laps in the No. 3 Corvette C6.R. The trio of Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows had a virtually flawless run in the opening six hours. The No. 4 sister car wasn’t as fortunate, having to undergo a driveshaft replacement in the race’s second hour. Bell Motorsports’ Aston Martin DBR9 was running third in class.

Wolf Henzler took the lead in GT2 just shy of the halfway point when the top two runners suffered heavy damage when they collided with each other. Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo apparently lost braking on his Ferrari F430 GT and ran through the hairpin turn, taking out Dirk Werner’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from Farnbacher Loles Racing. Just like that, Henzler went from two laps down into the lead.

A second Flying Lizard Porsche with Alex Davison at the wheel was second in class, one lap behind its sister car. Tafel Racing’s No. 73 Ferrari was third in GT2 with Pierre Ehret driving.

6-Hour Standings

Pos	Car	Cls	Drivers	Team	Car	Laps	Gap
1.	2	P1	L.Luhr, M.Werner, M.Rockenfeller	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	164	0.000
2.	1	P1	R.Capello, A.McNish, T.Kristensen	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	164	30.720
3.	7	P2	R.Dumas, T.Bernhard, E.Collard	Penske Racing	Porsche RS Spyder	164	3.136
4.	16	P2	C.Dyson, G.Smith	Dyson Racing	Porsche RS Spyder	163	1 Lap
5.	26	P2	B.Herta, C.Fittipaldi, M.Andretti	Andretti Green Racing	Acura ARX-01b	163	19.429
6.	20	P2	B.Leitzinger, M.Franchitti, A.Lally	Dyson Racing	Porsche RS Spyder	163	1:18.415
7.	15	P2	A.Fernandez, L.Diaz	Fernandez Racing	Acura ARX-01b	163	6.288
8.	9	P2	D.Brabham, S.Sharp, S.Johansson	Highcroft Racing Acura	Acura ARX-01b	162	1 Lap
9.	3	GT1	J.O'Connell, J.Magnussen, R.Fellows	Corvette Racing	Corvette C6.R	155	7 Laps
10.	27	P2	F.Lienhard, D.Theys, J.Lammers	Horag Racing	Porsche RS Spyder	155	1:04.099
11.	37	P1	J.Field, D.Dayton, R.Berry	Intersport Racing	Lola B06/10 AER	151	4 Laps
12.	45	GT2	J.Bergmeister, W.Henzler, M.Lieb	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	150	1 Lap
13.	44	GT2	S.Neiman, D.Law, A.Davison	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	148	2 Laps
14.	5	GT2	U.Alzen, N.Swartzbaugh, C.Stanton	VICI Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	147	1 Lap
15.	61	GT2	T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, E.van de Poele	Risi Competizione	Ferrari 430 GT	147	30.770
16.	73	GT2	J.Tafel, A.Simonsen, P.Ehret	Tafel Racing	Ferrari 430 GT	146	1 Lap
17.	4	GT1	O.Gavin, O.Beretta, M.Papis	Corvette Racing	Corvette C6.R	146	17.767
18.	11	GT2	J.Feinberg, C.Hall	Primetime Race Group	Dodge Viper Comp Coupe	142	4 Laps
19.	07	P1	N.Minassian, S.Sarrazin, P.Lamy	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	139	3 Laps
20.	62	GT2	M.Salo, J.Melo, G.Bruni	Risi Competizione	Ferrari 430 GT	137	2 Laps
21.	77	GT2	M.Konopka, M.Casadei	Autoracing Club Bratislava	Porsche 911 GT3 RS	137	29:05.33
22.	87	GT2	D.Werner, M.Basseng, B.Miller	Farnbacher Loles Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	136	1 Lap
23.	008	GT1	T.Borcheller, C.Ducote, A.Garcia	Bell Motorsports	Aston Martin DBR9	132	4 Laps
24.	40	GT2	D.Robertson, A.Robertson, D.Murry	Robertson Racing	Doran Ford GT Mk.VII	124	8 Laps
25.	46	GT2	J.van Overbeek, P.Pilet, R.Lietz	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	123	1 Lap
26.	71	GT2	D.Farnbacher, D.Muller, R.Bell	Tafel Racing	Ferrari 430 GT	116	7 Laps
27.	12	P1	C.McMurry, B.Willman, T.Burgess	Autocon Motorsports	Creation CA06H Judd	115	1 Lap
28.	21	GT2	J.Hand, T.Milner, T.Sutherland	Panoz Team PTG	Panoz Esperante	104	11 Laps
29.	28	GT2	L.Gigliotti, D.Peterson, M.Goossens	LG Motorsports	Riley Corvette C6	99	5 Laps
30.	32	P2	J.Barazi, M.Vergers, J-C.Ravier	Barazi-Epsilon	Zytek 07S	88	11 Laps
31.	007	GT2	P.Drayson, J.Cocker, T.Sugden	Drayson-Barwell	Aston Martin DBRS9	70	18 Laps
32.	6	P2	S.Maassen, P.Long, R.Briscoe	Penske Racing	Porsche RS Spyder	29	41 Laps
EXC	8	P2	G.Bonilla, B.Devlin, R.Matos	B-K Motorsports	Mazda Lola B07-46	--	--
DNS	48	GT2	G.Jeannette, J.Mowlem, R.Kelleners	Corsa Motorsports	Ferrari 430 GT	--	--
DNS	10	P1	B.Collins, H.Toivonen, S.Wright	ECO Racing	Radical SR10	--	--