2002 GRAND PRIX OF WASHINGTON

American Le Mans Series

The tiny Panoz team really had no business beating the megabuck Audi squad in the American Le Mans Series in the early 2000s. Yet five times from 2000-02 its quirky front-engined prototypes overcame the Audi R8 in the rough and tumble of what was at the time the world’s top sportscar series. The best of those victories – and the last – came at the Washington DC city circuit in 2002.

The track suited the torquey Roush-yates motor mounted ahead of Jan Magnussen and David Brabham in what had become known as the Panoz LMP-01 Evo after a winter makeover. There was little to choose between the two Joest-run factory Audis and the best of the Panoz entries on a 1.66-mile track laid out in a car park in the shadow of a sports stadium. All three cars spent time in the lead over the course of a topsyturvy race lasting two hours and 45 minutes.

Audi looked to have gained the upper hand at the final round of pitstops under a safety car when Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro stayed aboard the two Audis and didn’t take tyres. Magnussen took over from Brabham and got a new set of Michelins.

That left Magnussen nine seconds back for the run to the flag. Yet on fresh rubber the Dane stormed into the lead in the space of just five laps. And he managed to stay there, despite the close attentions of Kristensen over the closing stages.

“There was a ton of pick-up on that track and the other guys had problems cleaning off their tyres after the final safety car,” explains Magnussen. “That gave me a huge advantage for five or six laps. The stop-start circuit suited us, but I was pretty determined. We didn’t have a championship to worry about, so it was win or wreck.”