Monday, Nov. 8, 1999 | 10:44 a.m.
BMW Motorsport co-drivers J.J. Lehto and Steve Soper outlasted the competition to win the American Le Mans Series Grand Prix at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday.
Soper, who took the wheel at the 1:53 mark of the two-hour, 45-minute endurance race, edged out a fellow BMW team car by just .269 seconds to take the prize.
"After our last pit stop I knew I had a small gap to make up," Soper said. "I realized I hadn't been going quick enough, but I didn't give up. We 20 ended up winning from others' mistakes."
One such problem occurred at the 2:28 point, when the BMW team took the lead from Panoz Motor Sport's Eric Bernard. Bernard stormed out of his car after pulling it into the pit with a smoking right front wheel.
"I'm really upset with some GT drivers," Bernard said. "I had some little temperature problems at the start of my stint. Then I started to lose the water, and the temperature just started rising. I tried to baby it, but it was not enough."
Finishing in second place was BMW Motorsport's tandem of Bill Auberlen and Joachim Winkelhock.
"No moment did we think we were out of it," Auberlen said. "The other car got to the front, Joachim did a great job of just hanging in there and the team decided we'd just finish in this order."
Team DAMS took third in the championship and Panoz Motor Sport placed fourth.
Despite comments about a slippery track surface by several drivers, Soper had no complaints about the track or his car.
"We didn't have a great car but the reliability was fantastic," he said. "With BMW, you win some and you lose some. We have had our ups and downs but today it was fantastic."
Soper also had plenty of praise for his co-driver.
"J.J. is always able to pull something out in a single lap," Soper said. "He sticks his neck out more than me. We have no need to compete against each other, because he knows what I can do and I know what he can do. That's what makes us a good team."
The first-place car collected $35,000 in prize money, followed by $22,500 for the runner-up.
Elliot Forbes-Robinson, driving for Dyson Racing, won the ALMS Protoype series championship with 141 points and finished sixth in the race. Bernard was second with 136 points, and his co-driver David Brabham was third at 135. Oliver Beretta of Viper Team Oreca clinched the GTS series championship, and Manthey Racing's Cort Wagner claimed the GT championship.
In another ALMS race, the Women's Global GT Series, Panoz' Divina Galica took the prize, beating out teammate Cindi Lux by a 0.679 time difference. Lux, who won the WGGT championship this season, trailed Galica closely the entire race.
"She was trying very hard to take the lead," Galica said. "She wanted to win both the race and the championship."
But Lux was satisfied with just the championship.
"I don't think my feet have touched the ground yet," she said. "I don't think this has sunk in. This is a special day for me and the whole series. I know the spotlight is on me now, but I don't want it all. All these drivers deserve of a share of it."
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