Lexington, Ohio, August 23, 2001

The privateer Champion Audi team set the fastest time of the day Thursday as American Le Mans Series teams practiced in rainy conditions for Saturday's inaugural ALMS event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Heavy rain began to fall moments before the start of the two-hour practice session, soaking the 2.258-mile racing circuit and holding testing speeds well below those that were expected. Though the sun came out for the final few minutes of the session, the track was never dry. Official practice and qualifying will be held Friday for Saturday's two-hour, 45-minute sports car endurance race.

The Champion Audi, driven by Johnny Herbert of England, turned a best lap of 1:31.63 (88.707 mph) on the wet track to lead the session. The Florida-based team was the first non-factory team to receive one of the Audi R8 Prototypes that have dominated the ALMS in most of the 2000 and 2001 seasons. The car was rebuilt after Herbert was involved in a crash while racing for the lead in the closing moments of last Sunday's event at Canada's Mosport International Raceway.

The two factory Audis were second and third in Thursday's practice, with the car driven by Emanuele Pirro second at 1:31.97. The Tom Kristensen car, which was also crashed in last week's race, was third at 1:32.23.

The Panoz LMP1-R of David Brabham and Jan Magnussen was fourth at 1:33.71, followed by the Lola B2K/10B-Judd of local drivers Jon, Clint and Joel Field at 1:34.54.

The wet track conditions made for some unusual mixing of the cars in the rest of the field, with cars that are normally slower being somewhat equalized by the conditions. The GT-class BMW M3 GTR of JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller was seventh overall with a lap of 1:40.89.

Leading the LMP 675 class for smaller Prototypes was the Reynard 01Q-Judd of Didier de Radigues and Bruno Lambert at 1:41.27, while the Saleen S7R of Terry Borcheller and Franz Konrad led the GTS class with a lap of 1:41.50.

Twenty-eight cars are on hand to participate in the first-ever ALMS race in the American Midwest. The event starts at 1 p.m. Saturday and will be televised live by NBC Sports.  The live broadcast of the American Le Mans Series Radio Web can be heard online at

1. (38) Johnny Herbert, Andy Wallace

2. (2) Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro

3. (1) Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen

4. (50) David Brabham, Jan Magnussen

5. (37) Jon Field, Joel Field, Clint Field

6. (51) Franck Lagorce, Klaus Graf

7. (42) JJ Lehto, Jorg Muller

8. (5) Didier de Radigues, Bruno Lambert

9. (26) Franz Konrad, Terry Borcheller

10. (22) Randy Pobst, Christian Menzel

11. (43) Fredrik Ekblom, Dirk Muller

12. (4) Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins

13. (11) Steven Knight, Claudia Huertgen

14. (57) John Graham, Milka Duno

15. (30) Johnny Mowlem, Mike Fitzgerald

16. (10) Peter Cunningham, Niclas Jonsson

17. (23) Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen

18. (45) Shane Lewis, David Donohue

19. (69) Kye Wankum, Joe Foster

20. (6) Boris Said, Hans Stuck

21. (52) Tony Burgess, Phillip Collin

22. (44) Joe Ellis, Tom Weickardt

23. (15) Randy Wars, Mark Neuhaus

24. (7) Emmanuel Collard, Christophe Tinseau

25. (3) Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell

26. (16) Butch Leitzinger, James Weaver

27. (48) Jimmy Adams, Joe Blacker

28. (8) Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli

1. (50) David Brabham

2. (1) Tom Kristensen

3. (51) Klaus Graf

4. (2) Emanuele Pirro

5. (7) Emmanuel Collard

6. (38) Andy Wallace

7. (8) Max Angelelli

8. (37) Clint Field

9. (5) Didier de Radigues

10. (26) Terry Borcheller

11. (57) John Graham

12. (3) Ron Fellows

13. (11) Claudia Huertgen

14. (4) Andy Pilgrim

15. (42) J.J. Lehto

16. (43) Fredrik Ekblom

17. (22) Randy Pobst 

18. (6) Hans Stuck 

19. (23) Sascha Maassen

20. (10) Peter Cunningham

21. (45) David Donohue

22. (48) Jimmy Adams

23. (30) Johnny Mowlem

24. (44) J.Ellis/T.Weickardt/K.Allen

25. (69) Kye Wankum

26. (52) Tony Burgess

27. (15) Randy Wars