2000 GRAND PRIX OF MOSPORT

American Le Mans Series

Joest Audi drivers Allan Mcnish and

Dindo Capello pretty much dominated the rain-affected Mosport round of the American Le Mans Series in the summer of 2000. That was until the track surface of the majestic former home of the

Canadian Grand Prix started to dry up.

Jorg Muller, aboard the Schnitzer BMW

V12 LMR he shared with JJ Lehto, had ducked into the pits with 20 minutes of the race to go to take on slick tyres. Audi reacted by bringing in the delayed second car, shared by Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela, for dries two laps later, but chose to leave the race leader out on wet-weather Michelins.

As the clock ticked down at the end of a race lasting two hours and 45 minutes, Muller started to take giant chunks of time out of the Audi R8 at the head of the field. The BMW gained seven seconds on the penultimate lap, leaving him just four behind with one lap to go. The odds were now firmly in favour of the previous year’s Le Mans-winning machine.

Muller caught Capello through Turn 8 at the end of the long back straight, but the Audi driver somehow kept his nose in front through the final two corners to hang on to take victory by 0.148s. It was generally reckoned to be the closest competitive finish in the history of top-line international sportscar racing up to that time.

“I thought I had no chance because the car was all over the place,” says Capello. “I drove those last two corners as though I was on slicks.”

Mcnish reckoned it was question of bottle at the end. “Dindo proved his nerve,” he says. “It was about who wanted it the most.”