Double title honours for Audi Sport UK.

Jamie Davies and Johnny Herbert claimed the Le Mans Endurance Series LMP1 title with victory in the fourth and final round of the season at Spa Francorchamps.

The victory, the 50th for the highly successful Audi R8 Sportscar, was also enough to secure the LMP1 teams title for Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx.

Heading into the race it was Pierre Kaffer and Allan McNish who were expected to take the championship honours, after winning the last round at Silverstone.

The weekend started well for the duo, with McNish earning Veloqx Audi its fourth consecutive LMES front row start with second after the DBA Zytek of Nicolas Minassian and Jamie Campbell-Walter claimed pole position by just 0.038secs, with the Davies/Herbert car starting third.

At the start Kaffer's Audi and the pole-starting Zytek touched approaching Eau Rouge forcing Minassian to pit with a left rear puncture, while Kaffer went straight on at Les Combes disputing the lead with team-mate Herbert.

That allowed the Team Goh Audi of Rinaldo Capello and Seiji Ara to lead the opening lap from a recovering Kaffer with Herbert third. Kaffer briefly got ahead on the tenth lap but almost immediately made a small mistake to drop back behind Capello.

Simultaneously, an accident caused a full course yellow but unfortunately for third-placed Herbert, who had been less than 10-seconds behind the leader, the safety car picked up his #88 Veloqx Audi effectively putting him almost a full lap down on Capello and Kaffer.

With 20-laps run and almost one hour on the clock, Kaffer finally took the lead back from Capello, but disaster struck leader Kaffer just three laps later when he collided with a GT Ferrari approaching the Bus Stop chicane. Kaffer slid off onto the grass before colliding with the Kane/Hughes/Tomlinson TVR - destroying the rear of the R8 and returning to the pitlane with the rear of the car engulfed in flames.

Unsurprisingly the damage was too bad to be repaired and the #8 Audi posted its first retirement of the season.

"I'm very disappointed - not just for me, but of course Allan and the #8 crew," Capello said afterwards. "Exiting Blanchimont at high-speed I was catching a slow car - there was enough space so I went to the left but he didn't see me and he changed his line and moved over.

"We touched and I hit the barrier, spun along the wet grass, then collided with another car at the Bus Stop. I was burning and I saw the pit-lane entry so instinctively drove the car back but the damage was too bad to continue."

McNish was disappointed to have missed out on the title, but accepted that sometime luck isn't on your side.

"Having won two races and finishing second in the other, we started this race leading the championship so it's a massive disappointment to miss out in this way," he said. "But there are certain things you can control in motor racing - others you cannot. I suffered a problem in the Le Mans 24 Hours, today it was Pierre's turn for misfortune. He was an innocent victim but the important thing is that he is okay."

Kaffer's accident brought out the safety car again and this time Herbert benefited, his #88 Veloqx Audi resuming at the green flag with a 19-secs lead over the Goh Audi after both cars had made scheduled pit-stops under full course yellow.

At half-distance Davies, who had taken over driving duties from Herbert, enjoyed almost a full lap lead over the Goh Audi. He continued to charge, setting the race's fastest lap on lap 107 - less than 90 minutes from the finish.

At the chequered flag, in a race featuring five full course yellow periods, Davies finished a lap ahead of the Goh Audi, to secure the title.

"The car never missed a beat which allowed me to push hard right to the end," Davies said. "The Audi R8 is a fantastic race car and Michelin gave us excellent tyres and I'm delighted Johnny and I have been able to reward Sam Li, and all of the Veloqx team, plus Audi UK with this success.

"To win this title - including two races - and to have finished second at Le Mans in a single year is a marvellous feeling. I'm overjoyed."

For Herbert, it was a first title in a long time, and the ex Formula One star was delighted.

"The opening lap was hectic but my biggest problem was losing almost a lap when the safety car came out in front of me putting me almost a lap down," he said. "My engineer [Chris Gorne] then perfectly 'called' the weather and sent me out on intermediates rather than full wet weather tyres.

"This is my first championship success since winning the 1987 British Formula Three title so I'm delighted - I'd forgotten what it felt like!"

With the team winning both titles, team principal Sam Li was a happy man.

"I'm delighted that our team has finished first and second in the LMP1 standings and it's fantastic that Veloqx has scored Audi's 50th R8 race victory," he said. "Obviously, it is a shame for car #8 - the accident was very unfortunate. The entire team has worked extremely hard throughout the season and they deserve great credit."

The Spa-Francorchamps race marked the British team's sixth and final race of the 2004 season.

The Veloqx Audi team made a fantastic race d?but by finishing first and third in the historic Sebring 12 Hours in March. The team won all four LMES races and also claimed second (Davies/Herbert/Guy Smith) and fifth (Frank Biela/Kaffer/McNish) in the Le Mans 24 Hours, having started its cars from the front row and led for the opening 15 hours.

Audi UK motorsport manager David Ingram was delighted to see the team complete the season with another win.

"I'm so happy for the entire team - everyone has done a wonderful job and I feel proud of them all," he said. "It has been a tough season that started with Veloqx's first Audi test in Atlanta. Seven months later we can reflect on a phenomenal amount of individual race success and now title honours."