SRO America

Laguna Seca: Audi GT race notes

Audi S4s Finish Fourth, Eighth and Twentieth at Laguna Seca. Laguna Seca, Calif. -- Michael Galati, driving the number one Champion Audi/Audi S4 Competition, finished in fourth place to lead the Audi trio with teammates Derek Bell, driving the ...

Published: Sep 24, 2002, 5:45 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Audi S4s Finish Fourth, Eighth and Twentieth at Laguna Seca.

Laguna Seca, Calif. -- Michael Galati, driving the number one Champion Audi/Audi S4 Competition, finished in fourth place to lead the Audi trio with teammates Derek Bell, driving the number two Legends of Motorsport Audi S4 Competition, finishing in eighth and new comer Paul Edwards, driving the number three Champion Audi/Audi S4 Competition in twentieth in round eight of the SCCA Pro Racing Speed Channel GT Series race at Laguna Seca today.

Galati, starting from his third place qualifying position, was able to get a good start and lead the first ten laps. On the eleventh lap the Porsche driven by Randy Pobst was able to get by for the lead. "I was driving the car hard to keep up with Randy and may have used up the tires a little too much which eventually allowed P.D. and Justin to pass me. I had a really good start and was able to lead some laps, but we are happy with a top five finish here this weekend," said Galati.

Derek Bell had a good start, making up three positions by the entrance of turn one when he was hit from behind and sent into a spin. The sportscar legend was able to recover and rejoin the field in 15th. "I had a good start and was making up positions until the entrance of turn one when I was rear-ended by someone and spent the remainder of the race trying to make up as many positions as possible. On the last lap I had a look inside of a Porsche which sent us both into a spin," said Bell.

Audi new comer Paul Edwards really showed his skill in the opening laps. On the start the California resident moved up to fourth from his sixth place qualifying position and had a great battle with the Porsche and NSX and soon made his way to third. On lap 12 he was hit from behind and went off at the entrance of the "cork screw" and rejoined in 12th position. "I was feeling pretty good, we were having a nice battle and I was running behind Michael when the NSX nudged me at the entrance of the cork screw and I lost a bunch of positions. It was a great experience and I am looking forward to another run at Road Atlanta," said Edwards. Edwards was also credited with the fastest race lap, a 1:38.02 with a speed if 80.6 mph, set on lap 25.

"This has been a tough track for us in the past and this year was no different. Michael had a good race and played it smart to bring home a solid fourth place finish. Derek had a lot of contact and was able to recover nicely. Paul did an excellent job for his first time racing in the car and series. He has the speed and attitude, he just needs some more seat time," said Rod Bymaster, manager Audi Sport.

In the Speed Channel Touring Series race on Saturday, Paul Lambert driving the number 77 Sonnen Motorcars Parts and Service Audi A4 won the hour long race from pole for his first victory of the season. "We finally were able to get it all together and win one. I got a good start and was able to maintain a good lead all race. The Audi A4 held up well throughout the race and the win feels great," said Lambert.

The Laguna Seca race will air on the Speed Channel on Friday, October 11 at 3:00 p.m.

-audi-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Laguna Seca: Alex Job Racing race notes

Next article Millington: Larry Dixon eliminations summary

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Lamborghini Super Trofeo | Asia Race 2: Victory for Li/Sherlock, but Tregurtha crowned champion over Sceats/Wisniewski

Lamborghini Super Trofeo

LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo

World Finals - Monza 2026

20 min

Lamborghini Super Trofeo | Asia Race 2: Victory for Li/Sherlock, but Tregurtha crowned champion over Sceats/Wisniewski

Rackley W.A.R. to immediately shut down NASCAR Truck Series team

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Talladega

24 min

Rackley W.A.R. to immediately shut down NASCAR Truck Series team

Chase Elliott withdraws his name from NASCAR Most Popular Driver voting

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 48 min

Chase Elliott withdraws his name from NASCAR Most Popular Driver voting

Lewis Hamilton: Kimi Antonelli “deserves to be the champion”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

54 min

Lewis Hamilton: Kimi Antonelli “deserves to be the champion”

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts