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Sports Car Race Ends In Dramatic Fashion

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By HOLLY CAIN

Tribune correspondent

Published: April 6, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - It was difficult to tell who enjoyed Saturday's Acura Sports Car Challenge more - the drivers competing or those watching them.

"There were a few times at the end of the race, I just had to laugh in the cockpit because from inside I could see how close it was and I know my co-driver is not the youngest anymore and I was worried about giving him a heart attack," Audi driver Lucas Luhr said.

Luhr passed the rival Penske Racing Porsche on a restart with less than three minutes remaining to give the Audi R10/TDI its first American Le Mans Series win of the season and avenge an upset loss to the same Porsche at the 12 Hours of Sebring three weeks ago.

It was a fittingly dramatic finish to a highly competitive, ultra-entertaining afternoon of racing.

The second-place overall finish for Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas was still good enough to give the Porsche RS Spyder a win in the tightly contested LeMans Prototype-2 (LMP-2) class. Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin led flag to flag, giving the Chevrolet Corvette its 14th straight win in the production-based GT1 class.

Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Muller scored an especially emotional win in the GT-2 class, earning a first-ever ALMS victory for team owner Jim Tafel, whose father owns last year's Kentucky Derby-winning horse, Street Sense.

"Someone asked if this compared to the Kentucky Derby," Tafel said. "This does rival the excitement of winning there. "

Excitement was the order of the afternoon with close racing - sometimes too close - in all four classes from the drop of the green flag.

But the simmering rivalry between Audi and Porsche lived up to all expectations and provided a great show out front of the 28-car field.

Marco Werner's pole-winning Audi led early, however Bernhard had pulled to within a second of him when a full-course caution came out. The Porsche beat Audi out of the pits during a round of stops to change drivers and the two dueled for the rest of the race, rubbing fenders in a way more reminiscent of a NASCAR race.

Luhr got a rocket run on the long front straightaway and passed the Porsche on the outside of Turn 1 with 25 minutes of the 1-hour, 55-minute timed race remaining. Dumas returned the favor, taking advantage of slower lapped traffic, only to have another full-course caution come out with less than 10 minutes remaining.

"I was really mad when that last yellow came out and was a little afraid we wouldn't get another try at him," Luhr said. "But there was no doubt, I would try everything. Either we would go into a wall or we would win everything."

Dumas said he was surprised they restarted the race with so little time left and knew he was essentially a sitting duck.

"It killed our overall victory for sure," Dumas said. "But that's racing. It was still a good weekend for everybody and a great show again."

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