Lowe's Fernandez duo Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz may not have made it onto the top step of the Petit Le Mans podium, but second place at Road Atlanta was enough to achieve a couple of longer term goals.

Already seven-time LMP2 class winners this year, Fernandez and Diaz were beaten to victory in the blue riband event by the Lola-Mazda of Dyson Racing trio Marino Franchitti, Butch Leitzinger and Ben Devlin, but the podium finish gave the Acura operation both the class team and manufacturers' crowns.

"We would have loved to have won Petit, but it is great to come away with the team and manufacturers' championships,” Diaz commented, "However, we had been facing some type of electrical problem since Thursday and, while the team did a good job of setting up the car, we didn't discover the exact problem until the race."

Fernandez and Diaz had already clinched the LMP2 drivers' title at Mosport last month, and will now attempt to tie the LMP2 record for race wins in a single season at the finale at Laguna Seca. Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas captured eight victories for Penske Racing in 2007.

“You never want to finish a race like this for the fans' sake," Fernandez admitted after the Petit was red-flagged at half-distance, "Unfortunately, we didn't show what we could do today due to the problem with the steering - when I jumped in the car, there was something really wrong, so we needed to stop and change the steering unit. Nevertheless, we are happy about clinching the team and manufacturers' titles.”