BRABHAM, MAGNUSSEN DRIVE PANOZ TO ALMS VICTORY; AUDI WINNING STREAK ENDS

PORTLAND, Ore. (August 5, 2001) -- Audi's year-long winning streak in the American Le Mans Series was broken Sunday when David Brabham and Jan Magnussen co-drove a Panoz prototype to victory in the Grand Prix of Portland sports car endurance race.

The win by the Panoz LMP-1 was the first non-Audi victory in the series since Brabham and Magnussen won a race at Germany's Nurburgring circuit in July of 2000. The Audi R8 had won 11 consecutive races in the series.

The potential upset began to unfold Saturday when Brabham won the pole for the event. In the two-hour, 45-minute race, Brabham battled during his driving stint with the Audi driven by Tom Kristensen, swapping the lead several times. Later in the race, the Audi developed mechanical problems after series point leader Rinaldo Capello had taken it over, but Magnussen had to hold off a late charge from the second Audi, driven at that stage by Emanuele Pirro. A late caution flag set up a 10-minute sprint to the finish, and Magnussen beat Pirro to the win by .374 second.

"This win means so much to our team, and for the series" said Brabham. "It hasn't been good for the series to have the Audis winning all of the time. For us to beat the Audis is just awesome. When we got here, we knew we had a good setup and a good car, and we knew we had a chance to win."

Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell drove a Chevrolet Corvette C5-R to the GTS class win, their third in five ALMS races this season. Fellows had a strong battle early in the race with the Saleen S7R driven by Franz Konrad, but the car developed engine problems later in the race after co-driver Terry Borcheller took over. That allowed the second Corvette driven by Kelly Collins and Andy Pilgrim to finish second in class. However, the Collins/Pilgrim car was disqualified following a post-race inspection after it was found to be under the required 1,200-kilometer weight. That moved the Dodge Viper GTS-R driven by Shane Lewis and Jeff Altenburg to second place in the final order.

"The Saleen was a handful," said Fellows. "The track was really slippery and everyone was slipping and sliding. They gave us a great race for awhile, but fortunately for us, they had problems."

Boris Said and Hans Stuck won the GT class in a BMW M3 GTR, coming back from an incident at the start of the race when Stuck was hit by another car. "We found when we pitted that the rim was bent," said Stuck. "We were lucky the tire did not burst."

The Porsche 911 GT3 R of Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen finished second in the GT class.

The LMP 675 class for smaller prototypes was won by the Reynard 01Q-Judd driven by John Graham, Milka Duno and Didier de Radigues.

The order of finish:

1 (1) David Brabham, Australia; Jan Magnussen, Denmark, Panoz LMP-1, 131, 2:45:42.078, .374 second.
2 (3) Frank Biela, Germany; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi R8, 131.
3 (4) Johnny Herbert, England; Andy Wallace, England; Audi R8, 131.
4 (20) Klaus Graf, Germany; Franck Lagorce, France; Panoz LMP-1, 131.
5 (2) Tom Kristensen, Denmark; Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Audi R8, 127.
6 (5) John Graham, Canada; Milka Duno, Venezuela; Didier de Radigues, Belgium; Reynard 01Q-Judd, 123.
7 (7) Ron Fellows, Canada; Johnny O'Connell, Flowery Branch, Ga.; Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, 122.
8 (10) Hans Stuck, Austria; Boris Said, Carlsbad, Calif.; BMW M3 GTR, 121.
9 (15) Lucas Luhr, Germany; Sascha Maassen, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RS, 120.
10 (11) JJ Lehto, Finland; Jorg Muller, Germany; BMW M3 GTR, 120.
11 (13) Fredrik Ekblom, Sweden; Dirk Muller, Germany; BMW M3 GTR, 120.
12 (6) Mel Hawkins, Scottsdale, Az.; Steve Knight, Castle Rock, Col.; Lola B2K-Judd, 120.
13 (16) Randy Pobst, Melbourne, Fla.; Christian Menzel, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 R, 118.
14 (17) Michael Peterson, Las Vegas, Nev.; Johnny Mowlem, England; Timo Bernhard, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RS, 118.
15 (14) Shane Lewis, Jupiter, Fla.; Jeff Altenburg, Cantonville, Md.; Dodge Viper GTS-R, 118.
16 (18) Kye Wankum, Canada; Joe Foster, Atlanta; Porsche 911 GT3 R, 106.
17 (12) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, Calif.; Niclas Jonsson, Sweden; BMW M3 GTR, 102, gearbox.
18 (8) Terry Borcheller, Phoenix; Franz Konrad, Germany; Saleen S7R, 85, engine.
19 (21) Tom Weickardt, Whitefish Bay, Wis.; Kevin Allen, Bowling Green, Ky.; Dodge Viper GTS-R, 78, broken axle.
20 (19) Randy Wars, Mexico; Mark Neuhaus, Sun Valley, Id.; Porsche 911 GT3 R, 13, engine.

(9) Kelly Collins, Corona del Mar, Calif.; Andy Pilgrim, Aventura, Fla.; Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, 122, DISQUALIFIED per Item 8.8 of 2001 SPORTS CAR code (underweight).

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MEDIA CONTACT: Andy Hall, American Le Mans Series Director of Media & Communications (317) 295-3500, ext. 31.