Victory by Ferrari…by 0.184s!

With less than ten laps remaining Bell, with co-driver Gianmaria Bruni, finally looked assured at the head of the field but there was a final twist in the tail as the British driver was hit by the Saulnier Racing Pescarolo Judd. That damaged the rear suspension of the Ferrari and left Bell with a very difficult jon to hold off Lieb's Porsche.

"It was fantastic for everyone," said Bell at the end of the victory celebrations. "We fought with the number 77 car for most of the race, and it was fun and fair."

Lieb, a double champion in the series, added: "Second place was not so bad. It was a good performance and we lost about 30 seconds in the pit lane, but it was a good fight."

The Felbermayr Proton team celebrated a double podium as Horst Felbermayr Junior and Senior, sharing their Porsche with Christian Ried, finished third after a trouble-free race. Pierre Ehret and Pierre Kaffer suffered a broken driveshaft having run in second place in class. The second Farnbacher car, the Porsche of Allan Simonsen, Richard Westbrook and Lars Eric Nielsen was retired in the fifth hour with a seized front hub. Richard Lietz and Raymond Narac were running well until a throttle cable broke on their IMSA Performance Porsche.