Traffic played a role throughout the race and the end was no different. Bernhard led by as much as eight seconds in the final 15 minutes but ran into slower traffic in the waning moments. Brabham kept pushing and was aided by a slower prototype going into the final downhill diving turn. Brabham kept his momentum and drove deep into the first turn, passing the Penske prototype. Bernhard, trying to hold the inside line, spun off track but did not suffer any damage.
"I'm so exhausted. I really had to work hard out there," Brabham said. "Timo juked left and went right and I kept left and ran him down the straight in a long drag race. And then I dove really hard in on him on broke hard to get him. The team kept telling me to save fuel and save fuel and I thought 'You clearly don't know what's going on.' But I've been with a lot of teams, and it's this team's attention to going the extra mile that says a lot of things about the success."
Audi Sport North America's Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr won their fourth straight LMP1 round in their Audi R10 TDI. The pairing ran fourth overall and finished just off the lead lap. On a track that did not agree with Audi's big, powerful V12 diesel, the two had a shot for the overall victory late in the race. After falling behind early, Werner gained a lap back and was making up time even as the race ended.
This despite a penalty early in the race on the Audi crew and minor 'offs' by both drivers.
"The car was great," Luhr said. "It was a shame that in our first stop one of our guys looked up under the car after fuelling and took off his goggles. We had a very good chance for another overall victory. But in racing sometimes you are lucky and sometimes unlucky."
Intersport Racing's Jon Field, Clint Field and Richard Berry scored their second runner-up finish of the season. Emanuele Pirro and Dindo Capello were third in class after Pirro dominated early in the pair's Audi. Capello was involved in a crash an hour into the race that resulted in nearly 45 minutes lost in the paddock to repair the prototype.
