AUDI CONTINUES ITS TRADITION OF WINNING SEBRING WITH A BRAND NEW RIDE

Acura had the hype, Peugeot had the seasoning, but after 12 grueling hours of racing, Audi once again showed winning "out of the box" is a family tradition.

Tom Kristensen won his record-setting fifth overall title at Sebring and the German manufacturer won its ninth overall championship in 10 years on during the fastest race in track history on Saturday at the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida.

The brand new Audi R15 TDI won in its debut race with Kristensen, Italian Rinaldo Capello and Scot Allan McNish, just like its brethren had done before: The Audi R8 won in its 2000 debut, while the R10 took top honors in its maiden voyage in 2006.

"It's really good, but today the victory belongs to all the guys," Kristensen said. "From (team owner) Dr. (Wolfgang) Ullrich to everyone around - thanks for making this so special. And thanks to Peugeot; they pushed us to the limits - I know they are disappointed, but it was a fantastic race and it makes us proud to win it."

Audi held off a hard-charging No. 08 Puegeot 908 HDI FAP, which finished just 22.279 seconds behind its German rivals.

American Johnny O'Connell also made some history during his record-setting 19th consecutive start: He led the Corvette/Compuware Racing No. 3 to the GT1 championship, giving him a historic seventh class victory.

"Both cars were so well prepared, and it was a great battle day long," O'Connell said. "They pushed us the entire way."

Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz won the LMP2 class before some fans even settled into their camp sites, as both their Dyson Racing rivals - with their brand-new Mazda Lola B09 86 hard-top prototypes - bowed out before 5 p.m. with unrelated mechanical issues.

But that didn't slow the Acura ARX-01B: It was still running strong late into the night, setting its fastest lap mark with just two minutes remaining in the race.

"It was a perfectly executed race," Fernandez said. "It was a beautiful race, and something we really deserved from last year."

Despite starting in the back of the grid because one of its driver Jamie Melo failed to make Thursday's night practice because of a visa snafu at an Italian airport, the No. 62 Risi Competizone Ferrari 430 GT won the GT2 title by two laps over the No. 95 Advanced Engineering Pecom Racing Ferrari 430 GT.

"Everything went according to plan," said Dave Sims, Risi team manager. "We couldn't have wished for a better race."

But all eyes were on the showdown at the front of the grid, which started as a three-way battle but quickly turned into a shootout duel for the ages.

The turning point of the race may have come with three hours left: Running second overall, Puegeot's Sebastien Bourdais was forced to pit because of a punctured rear tire. The stop cost the No. 08 a spot, and although it remained on the lead lap, the French manufacturer's best hope for a victory fell more than 45 seconds behind Audi.

"There was no good traction since we had the puncture," Bourdais said. "For sure, that put us a step back."

The most dramatic moment came under darkness with just over an hour to race, when the Panoz Team PTG No. 21 Esparante collided with the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche as the two were battling for position in the GT2 class. The two got together coming out of the last corner, with the No. 45 hitting the outside wall heavily in what was deemed a "racing incident."

"I was on the inside and he didn't give me any room on the outside," said Flying Lizard driver Marc Lieb. "I thought I'd already passed him."

The first hour brought some of the most hotly contested action of the day: Peugeot's Pedro Lamy and Audi's Allan McNish battled for the overall lead in the opening 60 minutes, as the new Audi R15 TDI got around Lamy in the Peugeot 908 at the 1:05 mark as the two diesel powers threw down the gauntlet on what would be an all-out shootout.

After three hours, the French made their move, as Peugeot held the top two spots over fellow diesel challengers Audi. The Frenchman led by one second over Stephane Sarrazin, who was just ahead of Simon Pagenaud in de Ferran Motorsports' No. 66 Acura ARX-02a.

Minassian took the lead on a different fuel strategy in the second hour, with all four cars in the same pit window going forward. The top five cars were on the lead lap with Audi's two R15 TDIs sitting fourth and fifth.

Halfway through, the battle between Audi, Peugeot and Acura was living up to expectations, as Peugeot's Franck Montagny moved ahead of Audi's McNish under a pit stop near the six-hour mark.

McNish was leading by a half-second in the new R15 TDI when the two cars pitted. The Peugeot 908 HDi took only fuel while the Audi took diesel and tires. That put Montagny up by 14 seconds.

The all-out sprint continued as the remaining teams entered the last quarter of the race. Kristensen led teammate Mike Rockenfeller by 18 seconds at the nine-hour mark, with Peugeot's Bourdais a minute behind Kristensen, the largest gap by far between the lead Audi and the lead Peugeot.

The two diesel-powered manufacturers have been running nose-to-tail all day although on different strategies. Audi's plan has been to change its Michelin tires each stop while Peugeot has double-stinted its Michelins. However the Audi was able to make up time with its brand new prototype and precision use of traffic.

The 57th edition set two records. It was the fastest in Sebring history, with a 117.986 mph winning average that broke the 1986 record of 115.85. It also saw a track-record lap by the Peugeot No. 08, which got around the track in 1:43.274 to grab the record.

Brian Gjurgevich can be reached at 863-386-5841 or bgjurgevich@highlandstoday.com.

SEBRING WINNERS

OVERALL and LMP1: Audi R15 TDI No. 2 (Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish)

LMP2: Acura ARX-01B No. 15 (Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz)

GT1: Corvette C6-R No. 3 (Jan Magnussen, Johnny O'Connell, Antonio Garcia)

GT2: Ferrari 430 GT No. 62 (Jamie Melo, Pierre Kaffer, Mika Salo)