SEBRING, Fl — It was as if there were two races going on at the 12 hours of Sebring last weekend — the race between the two Audis and everyone else.

The Performance by the team from Ingolstadt, Germany was so dominant that the third place finisher, a Lola-Toyota was five laps behind the No.1 winning Audi R-18 e-tron Quattro, in its first official race in the states (the e-tron cars were not ready for Sebring last year).

The No. 1 Audi, that took game, set, and match at the storied Sebring track, is also the two-time defending Le Mans champ, driven by Marcel Fässler (CH), Benoît Tréluyer (F) plus Sebring newcomer Oliver Jarvis (GB) (Jarvis is filling in for Andre Lotterer) had the top qualifying time, won the race, and was also the Michelin Green-X Challenge winner.

The second place car of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen (DK) and Lucas di Grassi (BR) (who is replacing the retired Dindo Capelli) were less than eight seconds off the pace of the winners and but for a 60 second stop-and-go penalty for what was really incidental contact between McNish and a slower car, the results could have been reversed just as easily between the two.

Audi chose to come to Sebring on what it is calling its “Farewell Tour” not just to give American fans a last glimpse of the LMP1 cars (with the merger of the ALMS and the Grand National series the LMP1 class will not included in next year’s combined series), but also to give the team a demanding test to kick off the World Endurance Championship (WEC) that opens at Silverstone next month in the UK.

To be sure the race track at Sebring is all of that if not more. About half the length of Le Mans, the track, a former WWII airfield, not only requires both strong top end and handling, but it tests both car and driver in its requirement for toughness. One only has to watch cars “chatter” through the first turn as they decelerate from near 200 mph to negotiate the left hand bender to realize the kind of torture that cars are subjected to for 12 hours. Surviving and winning at Sebring gives a team a great boost for the coming endurance racing season.

Qualifying gave some idea of the closeness of the two Audi with only .006 of a second separating the two cars and in the race fans were treated to a fierce, no holds barred duel between the two teams in the race. At one point the two cars even “rubbed” a little paint as they battled for supremacy in one of the turns. In total, the lead between the two R18 cars changed 20 times.

You have to give Audi, and head of Audi Motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, credit for letting the two teams go at it tooth and nail. While there is certainly risk in that strategy — there is also great reward. And it was the fans at Sebring who were the recipients of the reward, as much as the Audi team.

But Audi knows that when they get to Silverstone in a short month, that the game will change. They will be facing what they expect to be a stiff challenge from their Toyota counterpart, who at the end of the season last year was their equal, if not their better. Racing in the shorter WEC events (of four hours duration, rather than the 12 hours of Sebring or 24 Hours of Le Mans) the Toyota won three of the final six events outright and gave the Audi something to “chew on” in the off season.

For that reason Audi remained at Sebring after the race for additional testing for the R18 e-tron quattro. Although Audi won the initial running of the WEC series last year — it knows that the Japanese Tiger is waiting to strike and that its R18 etron quattro will need to find every additional tenth of a second around the race track to be successful.

And yes, there were other classes competing at Sebring — and it was again the GT class where you could basically throw a blanket over the first seven or eight cars. Tommy Milner passed Matteo Malucelli Ferrari) for the GT lead and eventual class win as Corvette Racing won at Sebring for the first time since 2009. Milner, who drove the No. 4 Corvette C6 ZR1 with Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook, overtook Malucelli – who went off twice in the span of a lap – in Risi Competizione’s Ferrari F458 Italia with 13 minutes left.

It was a roller-coaster day for the No. 4 car. It lost two laps with electrical problems early and received a one-minute penalty for avoidable contact that was a debatable call at the very best and brought a strong response from Westbrook.

In 14 races at Sebring with Le Mans prototypes, the 61st running of Sebring marked Audi’s eleventh overall victory. Eight times the brand with the four rings celebrated one-two results. The premium manufacturer’s tally reflects 24 podium places. Ten times an Audi started from the pole position – more often than any other manufacturer in the history of the race that has been held since 1952. The Audi R8, the R10 TDI and the R15 TDI each celebrated victorious debuts at Sebring. With the first victory of a diesel sports car in 2006 and now the first triumph of a hybrid race car Audi achieved two historic victories. Audi took the first podium and the first win at a sports car race at Sebring as well.

Now the challenge, some 60 years later, is can the Audi taken this Sebring win to the next level — another win at LeMans and a second ERC title. Time will tell.

SEBRING, FL — Alan McNish and the No. 2 Audi R-18 Hybrid went from the outhouse to the penthouse in the course of eight hours of work Thursday at the storied Sebring track where Audi has brought a team of two cars as a part of the USA Farewell Tour.

McNish, out in the morning session, had a shunt on cold tires before completing even a single lap. Apparently the cold tires spun when he was going through turn 10, putting the car into the wall. While there was a goodly amount of body dammage to the car, the tub survived as did McNish and the No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro with teammate Tom Kristensen at the wheel toured the circuit at 1:46.660 (126.233 mph) for top time in the evening session.

The time was just 0.026 seconds faster than the No. 1 car with Benoit Treluyer at the wheel. Third place in the P1 category went to Lucas Luhr in the Muscle Milk Honda HPD ARX 03c. Luhr was about three-quarters of a second behind the fastest Audi. Based on the times posted by all of the Audi drivers, it would appear that both teams are ready for qualifying and the race.

This is the last time that the vaunted Audi P1 Team will visit the Sebring Track, where they have had dominate performances over the last decade. With the merging of the ALMS and Grand-AM series, there will no longer be a class for the Audi. Although the team will visit the World Endurance Championship (WEC) round in Austin, TX in September, this indeed may be the last time the Audi P1 cars turn a race lap at Sebring.

The Sebring race also gives the Audi Team a tune-up for the start of the WEC season that kicks off at Silverstone in the UK the weekend of April 12-14. Sebring will give the Audi team a good test (as it has already) with a very serious challenge coming from the Toyota team that was the equal of the Audis in the latter half of the WEC season in 2012.

In the GT class, there was less than a half a second between the top three with American Muscle showing the way as two Corvettes C6 ZR1s posted the top two times.

There is one test session Friday morning with qualifying Friday afternoon. The race kicks off Saturday morning at 10:30 am Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Prototype 2 (P2) Top 3
• Ryan Briscoe – No. 551 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b – 1:52.138 (120.066 mph)
• Ryan Hunter-Reay – No. 552 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b – 1:52.735 (119.431 mph)
• David Brabham – No. 01 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-03b – 153.133 (119.010 mph)

Grand Touring (GT) Top 3
• Oliver Gavin – No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 – 2:00.282 (111.937 mph)
• Jordan Taylor – No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 – 2:00.406 (111.822 mph)
• Matteo Malucelli – No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia – 2:00.736 (111.516 mph)

Prototype Challenge presented by Continental Tire (PC) Top 3
• David Ostella – No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09 – 1:55.662 (116.408 mph)
• Pierre Kaffer – No. 81 Dragon Speed Mishumotors ORECA FLM09 – 1:56.467 (115.604mph)
• Colin Braun – No. 05 Composite Resources CORE autosport ORECA FLM09 – 1:56.656 (115.416 mph)

GT Challenge (GTC) Tire Top 3
• Spencer Pumpelly – No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 2:06.376 (106.539 mph)
• Andy Lally – No. 27 Dempsey Del Piero Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 2:06.570 (106.376 mph)
• Jeroen Bleekemolen – No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 2:06.721 (106.249 mph)

LAKEVILLE, CT — Rob Dyson’s Lola B12/60 Mazda LMP1 won the battle, but it was the Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a Honda of Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graph that won the war at the Lime Rock American Le Mans series Northwest Grand Prix, as they came from four laps down during the race for the victory.

Rob Smith finished qualifying with an equally entertaining top lap and pole position for the Mazda, out dueling the Honda  by a mere .102 seconds. On race day when electrical issues plaqued the Muscle Milk sponsored Honda, it appeared as if the race was Smith and Dyson’s to lose.

Unfortunately for the Mazda team, on their “home track” (Poukeepsie, NY is home base) they did lose the race to a hard charging bonzai performance by Lurh and Graph that earned for them a nearly 13 second victory over their chief rivals, their third straight in the ALMS this year.

P2 class honors went to Level 5′s Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker, who led outright for more than 30 minutes and held off a hard-charging Conquest Endurance Morgan-Nissan of Martin Plowman for the class win.

“Dr. Mc Dreamy”, Patrick Dempsey, scored his first ALMS podium finish, teaming with Joe Foster in the No. 27 Dempsey Racing Lola B12/80 Judd to finish third in class.

In the GT catagorie, it was another dog fight to the finish with Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long earning victory for Flying Lizard Motorsports in a fantastic fight with Corvette Racing and Extreme Speed Motorsports. Bergmeister celebrated his 100th ALMS start with his sixth win in seven Lime Rock races. Bergmeister held off a stern challenge from a pair of Corvette C6 ZR1s.

LE MANS, France — Audi has done it again!

Not only did it win its 11th 24 hours of Le Mans but it lived up to its slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik” by garnering a one-two finish with its new R18 e-tron (and a 1-2-3 finish with the R18 Ultra taking third) , a hybrid all-wheel drive diesel powered car — a first in the history of motorsports.

It was the No1 Audi driven by Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer, and Benoit Treluyer — who also are the defending Le Mans champions — who took the checkered flag after 24 hard fought hours. The threesome first had to fight off a stiff challenge from Toyota’s hybrid car and then for the last 12 hours  have a “friendly” with its sister ship, the No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro.

Toyota’s TS030 Hybrid arrived with great promise and had its moments during the race, wrestling the lead from the Audi dreadnaught at one point in time. But this was not Toyota’s day. No sooner had the No 7 Toyota grabbed the lead — and lost it — the No. 8 Toyota with Anthony Davidson at the wheel was hit by a back-marker Ferarri, mirroring the accidents that took out two Audis last year. The Toyota took the air and went into the tire wall at speed in Virage de Mulsanne. Although Davidson was able to extricate himself from the car on his own, he was taken to the hospital where it was found that he had broken two vertebrae.The No. 7 Toyota TS030 hybrid soldiered on — but around one am the engine save out ending the run of the Toyota.

The TS030 was impressive in its brief stay at Le Mans, particularly given the fact that it was rushed to the World Endurance Championship scene after Peugeot pulled the plug (on the pug) on its Le Mans program. The new car showed excellent top end speed, leading all comers in

Once the Toyotas exited stage right, the friendly was on between the defending Le Mans champion and the veteran Audi No2, piloted by Allan McNish, Dindo Capello, and Tom Kistensen. The battle heated up Sunday morning with the No.2 team wrestling away the lead. The lead went back and forth until the No. 2 car, with McNish at the wheel had an incident with another car. Luckily it did not put the car out of the race — but it ended for all intents and purpose any head-to-head dicing.

Vorsprung durch Technik