The 2011-spec 908s will make their racing debut this week, and Peugeot enters as the defending Sebring race winner. However, times at the front were close, with the top six cars within 1.158 seconds of each other across the two sessions. The fastest of Audi Sport Team Joest's Audi R15 “Plus Plus” prototypes was second at 1:47.919 (123.426 mph), the best time of the afternoon session. That was the car of 2009 Sebring winners Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello and Allan McNish. The sister Audi of reigning Le Mans champions Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller was third, just 0.106 second behind.
Next up was defending ALMS prototype champion Highcroft Racing and its new HPD ARX-01e of David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti. It was the only nondiesel among the top four cars at 1:48.342 (122.486 mph) in the morning.
The GT battle was just as close with the first three cars within 0.267 second. The first BMW Motorsport M3 GT of Bill Auberlen, Augusto Farfus and Dirk Werner set a lap of 2:01.562 (109.574 mph) in the morning for a 0.152-second gap over Flying Lizard Motorsports' Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marc Lieb, which set its fast lap of 2:01.714 (109.437 mph) in the morning session. Coincidentally, that lap time was identical to the BMW's quickest in the afternoon.
Next up was AF Corse's Ferrari F430 GT of Gianmaria Bruni, ex-Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer at 2:01.829 (109.334 mph) in the morning session.
In LMP2, Signatech Nissan's Oreca-Nissan of Franck Mailleux, Soheil Ayari and Lucas Ordonez was quickest in class at 1:55.626 (115.199 mph), setting its time during the afternoon. The car, making its first start, led over Level 5 Motorsports' new Lola-Honda coupe. Level 5 team owner Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa are splitting duties in the machine that set a best lap of 1:58.970 (111.961 mph). Oak Racing's Judd-powered Pescarolo sat third at 2:01.306 (109.805 mph). Each of the class' best times came in the afternoon session.
In the GT Endurance “Amateur” class, Krohn Racing's Ferrari F430 GT was the quickest of the entries. Nic Jonsson, driving with Tracy Krohn and Michele Rugolo, set a lap of 2:03.217 (108.102 mph) in the first session. The Krohn entry was 0.736 second clear of Larbre Competition's Corvette C6.R driven by Julien Canal, Gabrielle Gardel and Patrick Bornhauser. CRS Racing's Ferrari of Pierre Ehret, Shaun Lynn and Roger Willis was third at 2:04.852 (106.686 mph).
Core autosport's two Oreca FLM09s were quickest in LMP Challenge in the team's first weekend of ALMS competition. The first car of former Champ Car driver Ryan Dalziel, Jon Bennett and Frankie Montecalvo set the fastest time at 1:55.060 (115.766 mph), good enough for a 0.323-second cushion over the sister car of Gunnar Jeannette, Ricardo Gonzalez and Rudy Junco.
Genoa Racing's first entry of Jens Petersen, Dane Cameron and Michael Guasch was third in class and quickest in the afternoon at 1:55.904 (114.923 mph).
In the GT Challenge class, Kevin Buckler's TRG crew held the top two spots, led by the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry driven by Duncan Ende, Spencer Pumpelly and Alain Li at 2:05.872 (105.822 mph). The second entry of Dion von Moltke was second, just 0.479 second back. Magus Racing's Porsche of Matthew Marsh, John Potter and Craig Stanton was third at 2:06.366 (105.408 mph).
There are two one-hour test sessions scheduled for Tuesday, at 11:35 a.m. and at 3:50 p.m. Eastern.
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