Other class pole sitters include: Signatech Nissan (LMP2), AF Corse (GT) and Proton Competition (GTE-Am)...
Stephane Sarrazin put in a dominating performance to claim the pole for
Saturday's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. (Photo: John Dagys)
Sarrazin’s Peugeot 908 sat in the pit lane during the opening moments of the 15-minute prototype qualifying session, waiting for a gap in traffic. Once given the all clear by the Olivier Quesnel-led team, the reigning Le Mans Series champion reeled off an impressive 1:46.671 lap time, shattering the competition by over a second.
PHOTOS: ALMS Sebring Thursday Day & Night
“Qualifying was very good,” Sarrazin said. “I had a clean lap without traffic, which was a lot better than free practice because it was a very busy track. So I pushed very hard and did the lap without a mistake. The car was really good and gave me confidence to do this time.”
While Sarrazin and co-drivers Franck Montagny and Pedro Lamy will start from the overall pole in their new-generation Peugeot 908, Audi’s R15 plus plus, grandfathered into the new-look LMP1 category, will line up alongside its diesel rival.
The No. 1 Audi of Romain Dumas was unable to match the sheer pace of the lead French Lion, setting a 1:47.680 lap time in the session. Peugeot’s sister 908 of Marc Gene slotted in third, a further three-tenths behind the Audi.
Diesels clearly showed the upper hand once again, with the Tom Kristensen-driven No. 2 Audi qualifying fourth and Friday morning’s pace-setting Team ORECA Matmut Peugeot of Loic Duval rounding out the top-five with its 2010-spec 908 HDi-FAP.
Muscle Milk AMR was the highest of the gasoline-powered contingent. Rebounding from an engine fire on Thursday, the No. 06 Lola-Aston Martin of Klaus Graf turned a 1:49.802 lap time to end up sixth, ahead of defending American Le Mans Series LMP champions Highcroft Racing with its new HPD ARX-01e in seventh.
But no matter the fuel type, all LMP1 competitors, and the entire 56-car starting field for that matter, will be faced with an extreme amount of traffic. And just as seen in qualifying, it could make the difference between winning and losing on Saturday.
“It’s going to be very, very long and we don’t need to make any mistakes,” Sarrazin said. “Sometimes you can be following ten cars and it’s so difficult to find a way. We could lose maybe ten seconds in one lap. So it will be key to not make any mistakes and take care of the tires.”
Signatech Nissan scored the LMP2 class pole, with Soheil Ayari clocking a 1:53.816 lap time in his No. 26 Oreca 03 Nissan. The Frenchman, who will share the wheel of his new cost-capped prototype with Lucas Ordonez and Franck Mailleux, outpaced the No. 055 Level 5 Motorsports Lola B11/40 Honda of Luis Diaz by nearly four seconds.
“It’s a brand-new car that we haven’t done massive testing with,” Ayari said. “But we found a good setup and the car was very well balanced. The Nissan engine made a very good [power]. It was easy to drive with a lot of torque. My lap time was pretty normal for this type of car, I think.”
While the Philippe Sinault-led Signatech team have been the pacesetters all week in the heavily revised category, Ayari is happy to be competing this weekend having suffered a dislocated shoulder in a motocross ice racing event less than two weeks ago. The ORECA test driver, along with his co-drivers, are all competing at Sebring for the first time.
Diaz and co-drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay and Level 5 Motorsports team owner Scott Tucker will line up second in P2 aboard their cost-capped Lola-Honda, with the No. 24 OAK Racing Oak-Pescarolo Judd slotting in third. Level 5’s No. 33 ILMC entry of Christophe Bouchut suffered electrical issues in qualifying and failed to set a competitive lap time.
While there’s four Ferrari F458 Italias in action this weekend, one of the tried-and-trusted F430 GTs stole the GT class pole. Gimmi Bruni put the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari on the top spot with a 2:01.561 lap time, edging out the No. 04 Corvette Racing C6.R of Oliver Gavin by 0.182 seconds.
Bruni, who will share his Prancing Horse with Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer, is one of five ILMC GT-class competitors that will be kicking off the seven-round global sportscar championship this weekend. While the Italian squad’s new Ferrari wasn’t delivered in time for the season-opener, Bruni is confident that the trusty old 430 can still deliver success.
“I’ve tested a lot with the F458, and to be honest I like that car more now,” Bruni said. “But we obviously have more data with the 430 around here. We started racing it in 2006. We’ve done lots of testing for Michelin with these tires... I think to start the season, the 430 can be fast. At the moment, we’re happy where we’re are.”
Gavin’s 2:01.743 lap put the Corvette as the highest of the ALMS season regulars, ahead of the two BMW Team RLL-entered BMW M3s qualified by Dirk Werner and Dirk Muller, respectively.
Risi Competizione’s new Ferrari F458 Italia was fifth, followed by defending drivers’ champion Jorg Bergmeister in the No. 045 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The No. 002 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 of Guy Cosmo completed the top-eight, which was separated by less than one-second.
Richard Lietz scored the inaugural pole for the new GTE-Am class, turning a 2:02.942 in his No. 63 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The reigning Le Mans Series champion was 0.558 seconds quicker than the No. 57 Krohn Racing Ferrari F430 GT of Nic Jonsson, which was second.
“We just want to have fun,” said Lietz, who will be joined by team owner Christian Reid and 2010 Porsche Cup champion Gianluca Roda on Saturday. “There is a chance to be on the podium of course, but a 12-hour race is really hard for everybody.”
The No. 60 Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage completed the top-three in class, with a best time that was nearly a half-second down on the Lime Green Ferrari. A total of five cars are entered in the GTE-Am category, a new ILMC class for Pro-Am driver lineups with older-spec GT machinery.
Dane Cameron scored the LMPC class pole, thanks to a 1:55.232 lap time in his No. 036 Genoa Racing Oreca FLM09. The 22-year-old Californian, who is making his first Sebring ALMS start, was locked in a spirited battle with the No. 005 CORE Autosport entry of Ryan Dalziel and the sister Gunnar Jeannette-driven machine. In fact, the top four class qualifiers were separated by less than a second.
“It’s going to be extremely tight,” said Cameron, who will share the wheel with Jens Petersen and Michael Guasch. “Ryan Dalziel and the guys he’s running with are very strong. Everybody has pretty similar pairings of drivers, which is good. So nobody really had advantages or disadvantages in driver lineups, so I think it’s going to be more about getting through GT traffic and staying mistake-free.”
In GTC, Alex Job Racing’s Leh Keen scored his second series pole in only his second start. It was a remarkable comeback for the defending Sebring class winners, which suffered an accident on Thursday and was forced to revert to a backup Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
“The car was totaled yesterday,” Keen said. “[Co-driver Bill Sweedler] got hit from behind and we’ve ended up with a whole new chassis. We have a 2010 car now, but the guys took everything off the car we were running on the new car and went out for the first time last night. They did a great job... The car was fast straight out of the box.”
Keen’s 2:07.373 lap time edged out the No. 077 Magnus Racing Porsche of Craig Stanton by only 0.022 seconds. Reigning GTC champions Black Swan Racing were third, thanks to Damien Faulkner’s 2:07.433 lap time.
The 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring gets underway Saturday at 10:30 a.m., with SPEED.com providing hourly updates throughout the ILMC and ALMS season-opener.
RESULTS: Qualifying
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at askdagys@gmail.com
Bruni, who will share his Prancing Horse with Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer, is one of five ILMC GT-class competitors that will be kicking off the seven-round global sportscar championship this weekend. While the Italian squad’s new Ferrari wasn’t delivered in time for the season-opener, Bruni is confident that the trusty old 430 can still deliver success.
“I’ve tested a lot with the F458, and to be honest I like that car more now,” Bruni said. “But we obviously have more data with the 430 around here. We started racing it in 2006. We’ve done lots of testing for Michelin with these tires... I think to start the season, the 430 can be fast. At the moment, we’re happy where we’re are.”
Gavin’s 2:01.743 lap put the Corvette as the highest of the ALMS season regulars, ahead of the two BMW Team RLL-entered BMW M3s qualified by Dirk Werner and Dirk Muller, respectively.
Risi Competizione’s new Ferrari F458 Italia was fifth, followed by defending drivers’ champion Jorg Bergmeister in the No. 045 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The No. 002 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 of Guy Cosmo completed the top-eight, which was separated by less than one-second.
Richard Lietz scored the inaugural pole for the new GTE-Am class, turning a 2:02.942 in his No. 63 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The reigning Le Mans Series champion was 0.558 seconds quicker than the No. 57 Krohn Racing Ferrari F430 GT of Nic Jonsson, which was second.
“We just want to have fun,” said Lietz, who will be joined by team owner Christian Reid and 2010 Porsche Cup champion Gianluca Roda on Saturday. “There is a chance to be on the podium of course, but a 12-hour race is really hard for everybody.”
The No. 60 Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage completed the top-three in class, with a best time that was nearly a half-second down on the Lime Green Ferrari. A total of five cars are entered in the GTE-Am category, a new ILMC class for Pro-Am driver lineups with older-spec GT machinery.
Dane Cameron scored the LMPC class pole, thanks to a 1:55.232 lap time in his No. 036 Genoa Racing Oreca FLM09. The 22-year-old Californian, who is making his first Sebring ALMS start, was locked in a spirited battle with the No. 005 CORE Autosport entry of Ryan Dalziel and the sister Gunnar Jeannette-driven machine. In fact, the top four class qualifiers were separated by less than a second.
“It’s going to be extremely tight,” said Cameron, who will share the wheel with Jens Petersen and Michael Guasch. “Ryan Dalziel and the guys he’s running with are very strong. Everybody has pretty similar pairings of drivers, which is good. So nobody really had advantages or disadvantages in driver lineups, so I think it’s going to be more about getting through GT traffic and staying mistake-free.”
In GTC, Alex Job Racing’s Leh Keen scored his second series pole in only his second start. It was a remarkable comeback for the defending Sebring class winners, which suffered an accident on Thursday and was forced to revert to a backup Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
“The car was totaled yesterday,” Keen said. “[Co-driver Bill Sweedler] got hit from behind and we’ve ended up with a whole new chassis. We have a 2010 car now, but the guys took everything off the car we were running on the new car and went out for the first time last night. They did a great job... The car was fast straight out of the box.”
Keen’s 2:07.373 lap time edged out the No. 077 Magnus Racing Porsche of Craig Stanton by only 0.022 seconds. Reigning GTC champions Black Swan Racing were third, thanks to Damien Faulkner’s 2:07.433 lap time.
The 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring gets underway Saturday at 10:30 a.m., with SPEED.com providing hourly updates throughout the ILMC and ALMS season-opener.
RESULTS: Qualifying
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at askdagys@gmail.com
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