New England Grand Prix (2006) 🇺🇸🥇

·July 1, 2006

DETAILS

Series: 2006 American Le Mans Series
Official Event Name: New England Grand Prix
Round: 4 of 10
Date: July 1, 2006
Circuit: Lime Rock Park
Location: Lakeville, Connecticut, USA
Race Distance: 2 Hours 45 Minutes (177 laps)
Winning Team: Audi Sport North America / Champion Racing
Winning Car: Audi R8 LMP1 #2
Winning Chassis: 605
Winning Drivers: Allan McNish / Dindo Capello
Winning Margin: 11.812 seconds
Pole Position: Timo Bernhard (Penske Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder) – 45.588
Fastest Lap: Timo Bernhard (Penske Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder) – 47.074
Audi Qualifying: 4th Overall / 2nd LMP1 – Dindo Capello – 46.965

OVERVIEW

The 2006 New England Grand Prix marked the end of an era for Audi Sport. Contested on July 1, 2006 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, the fourth round of the American Le Mans Series became the final competitive appearance of the Audi R8 LMP1, bringing to a close one of the most successful careers ever enjoyed by a sports prototype.

Driven by Allan McNish and Dindo Capello, the veteran R8 claimed victory after 177 laps, securing the model’s 63rd and final overall race win while also delivering Audi its 50th overall victory in American Le Mans Series competition. The result was particularly fitting given the circumstances. The Audi R8 had spent much of its later career competing under increasingly restrictive regulations designed to slow its performance against newer machinery, yet it remained capable of winning through reliability, racecraft and flawless execution.

The race also concluded the R8’s three-race farewell tour. Earlier that season, Audi Sport had introduced its revolutionary diesel-powered successor, the Audi R10 TDI, which won the 12 Hours of Sebring on debut before making history weeks later as the first diesel-powered car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While the R10 remained in Europe following Le Mans, Champion Racing continued campaigning the outgoing R8 in North America, allowing the legendary petrol-powered prototype one final opportunity to write the closing chapter of its remarkable career.

To commemorate the occasion, Audi Sport North America presented chassis 605 in a unique farewell livery. Along its distinctive red sidepods appeared the names of every driver who had won a race aboard an Audi R8, together with each of the 23 circuits where the model had claimed victory. One final detail—a decal reading “My other car is a diesel”—provided a lighthearted acknowledgement that Audi’s next generation had already arrived.

When the checkered flag fell that Saturday afternoon, the Audi R8 had accomplished something few legendary racing cars ever manage. It retired exactly as it had lived—winning.

WEEKEND NOTES

Final competitive appearance of the Audi R8 LMP1.
Final race of the Audi R8’s three-race farewell tour.
Audi unveiled a commemorative farewell livery featuring every race-winning Audi R8 driver and every circuit where the model had claimed victory.
Chassis 605 had already secured the Audi R8’s fifth and final victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans only weeks earlier.
Allan McNish and Dindo Capello were both making their first starts at Lime Rock Park.
The Audi R8 continued to compete with ALMS handicap weight intended to equalize performance against newer LMP1 machinery.
Final American Le Mans Series appearance before the Audi R10 TDI assumed full-time competition duties.

AUDI ENTRIES

No.	Car	Team	Drivers	Qualifying	Finish
2	Audi R8 LMP1 (Chassis 605)	Audi Sport North America / Champion Racing	Allan McNish / Dindo Capello	4th Overall / 2nd LMP1	1st Overall

PRINCIPAL RIVALS

Car	Team	Drivers	Notes
Porsche RS Spyder	Penske Motorsport	Timo Bernhard / Romain Dumas	Qualified on pole, set fastest lap and challenged Audi for the overall victory despite competing in the LMP2 category.

RACE SUMMARY

Qualifying hinted at the challenge facing the outgoing Audi R8. Carrying additional handicap weight under American Le Mans Series regulations, Dindo Capello qualified fourth overall despite extracting everything possible from the veteran prototype. Audi acknowledged before the race that outright qualifying pace had become increasingly difficult against the latest generation of lighter machinery, though both Capello and McNish remained optimistic that race strategy and consistency would compensate over the event’s two-hour, forty-five-minute duration.

The race unfolded exactly that way.

Capello maintained second place through the opening stint before handing the car to McNish after 45 minutes. A perfectly executed pit sequence during a full-course caution elevated the Audi into the overall lead, allowing McNish to gradually build an advantage approaching 18 seconds.

Another caution period inside the final hour erased that margin. During the final round of pit stops, race officials prevented McNish from entering pit lane on one lap, allowing the Penske Porsche RS Spyder to complete its stop first and assume the overall lead.

Rather than accepting defeat, McNish delivered one final demonstration of the determination that had become synonymous with both driver and machine. Charging back through traffic, he reclaimed first place with approximately thirty minutes remaining before steadily pulling away to win by 11.812 seconds after 177 laps.

The Audi R8’s final race had become its final victory.

AUDI MILESTONES

Final competitive race for the Audi R8 LMP1.
Final overall victory for the Audi R8.
Audi’s 50th overall victory in the American Le Mans Series.
63rd overall victory for the Audi R8 from just 80 starts.
Final factory competition appearance of chassis 605.
Final race of the Audi R8’s farewell tour.
Final American Le Mans Series appearance before the Audi R10 TDI assumed full factory competition duties.
Allan McNish and Dindo Capello extended their American Le Mans Series championship lead.

LEGACY

Few competition cars have ever rewritten the record books as comprehensively as the Audi R8.

Introduced at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March 2000, the R8 would become the defining endurance prototype of its era. Between 2000 and 2006 it accumulated 63 overall victories from only 80 race starts, including five victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 50 wins in American Le Mans Series competition. Its exceptional reliability, serviceability and outright pace established new benchmarks for prototype design while providing the technical and organizational foundation for the diesel-powered R10 TDI, the R15 TDI and eventually the hybrid R18 programs that followed.

The significance of Lime Rock extends beyond one final victory. Chassis 605 had already secured the Audi R8’s fifth and final victory at Le Mans only weeks earlier, carrying Tom Kristensen to a record-breaking sixth overall victory in the French endurance classic. By adding the Audi R8’s final competitive victory to its résumé, chassis 605 became arguably the most historically significant example of the model ever constructed.

Rather than quietly fading into retirement, the Audi R8 concluded its career exactly as it had spent most of it—standing atop the podium.