In the next day's first 20 minute qualifying session I had to come into the pits for a total of 13 minutes. The reason for these pit stops is that the deck lid would not stay in place. Finally, there was time for about one more lap. I had a good lap and was 3rd fastest.

In the second and final 20-minute session I was able to improve my times enough to move into 2nd place on the grid.

There were an estimated 130,000 fans in attendance on Saturday for the 12-hour American Le Mans race. They didn't expect to see the Pro GT support race that preceded that event. The Pro GT drivers came from Italy, Mexico, Wyoming, Canada, Florida and other states. This group of racers didn't disappoint the fans that came to see a good race. It started when the green flag was dropped as we went 4 wide into turn one. A driver from the second row commented that "his heart was in his throat" as he used a late braking maneuver to take over first place with me in hot pursuit.

I was determined to stay right on the rear fascia of his car and he wasn't making it easy. He left a slight opening on lap 2 that allowed me to slip by him. I focused ahead and was able to pull away. It was reported that I had pulled out to an eight plus second lead when the yellow flag came out. I think that is the last thing a race driver wants to see when they are in the lead. Nevertheless, there it was and it allowed all the drivers to line up behind me except for the two drivers that had contact in the back of the field. The race was about 2/3rds complete at this point.

As they gave the signal to go green the next time by I began to wonder what my speedy competitors would have in store for me when the green flag waved. I knew they were back there and they sure were making me earn my position. They came on strong in turns 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on however, I was still in the lead. These racers proved that they can race hard without contact. There were about 4 laps left and when the checkered flag waved I was fortunate enough to still be in first place.

On the podium the second place driver said that "Audrey was steady and didn't make a mistake but she took full advantage of ours." I thanked my fellow racers for their graciousness and went on to thank my sponsor, God, Visteon, the mechanics, the administrators and officials, my coaches (Espenlaub and Sallaway), the Visteon employee (Joe Van Hoey) who came to the race to write an article about the experience and many others. These comments led the ALMS announcer to comment, "please vote for Audrey".

I had some pleasant surprises for me when I left the podium as several people heard my name announced on the public address system and came over to the podium to say "hello". One was an SRF SCCA driver that I compete with and he said, "no wonder I can never catch you", another Visteon employee said, "an absolutely great race." "Great race," I said, "I think it was the longest race that I have ever been in." My fellow podium racers smiled and I thanked them again for a clean, hard, competitive race.

I'm sure that Mr. Van Hoey will have a story and many pictures to share with his fellow Visteon employees.