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For the very first time since St Petersburg in 2007, Audi managed in Long Beach to rank first and second overall. Thus, the Audi wheeled by Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr preceedes Franck Biela and Emanuele Pirro.
Having started from sixth position on the grid after a tight qualifying session, Lucas Luhr improved to fourth position at the wheel of the #2 Audi R10 TDI in the early laps of the 100-minute race. When the German driver was due to hand the car over to his team-mate, he held second position. Marco Werner returned on ninth overall position into the race after a full pit stop including the driver change.
Meanwhile, Frank Biela who had started from seventh place improved to sixth position that he held throughout his stint. In lap 43, he was due for his pit stop including a driver change to Emanuele Pirro. Only two lap later, however, debris on the track caused a full course yellow period of four laps. With more than half the race gone, Audi didn’t seem to be the likely winner.
However, both Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro made best use of the Audi TDI power and grabbed back position after position. In lap 57, Marco Werner passed Porsche driver Romain Dumas and took the lead.
After a third and final safety car phase between lap 58 to lap 60, Emanuele Pirro overtook Romain Dumas as well and completed the Audi 1-2 victory. In 25 races, the Audi R10 TDI has scored 15 victories so far, emphasizing its strenghts once again even on a type of circuit it has never been designed for.