André Lotterer drove the No. 1 Audi R18 diesel LMP1 prototype to pole position during qualifying of the 12 Hours of Sebring. The German heads Audi teammates Tom Kristensen (No. 2) and Romain Dumas (No. 3) on the grid.
This means the same Le Mans winning trio of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer are taking a serious option on what could be Audi's first win at Sebring since 2009. The 60th edition of the classic event marks this year's World Endurance Championship (WEC) and American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season openers.
"This pole is really nice for the staff as the guys work so hard to prepare for this race," said Lotterer after the session.
Aboard his Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a, Klaus Graf took fourth – the first spot left behind the three Audis – besting all the non-diesel and the non-WEC teams.
In the P2 class, Olivier Pla clocked the best lap in his Oak Racing Morgan-Judd, which put him clear of ex-Peugeot driver Stéphane Sarrazin, driving this year for Starworks Motorsports.
"I had a chance to test here before, so I had a pretty good idea of the circuit," Pla said. "I was really looking forward to racing here. The car is amazing. We had an incident on Monday and our team did a great job to get the car back and ready to go. The car felt perfect in qualifying."
Christophe Bouchut topped the ALMS drivers in P2, but drove into the wall moments after finishing his best lap so far – to dodge a slow car on the race line.
"From my perspective, at that time, there was nothing else I could do or else the car would have hit me and then it would have been worse than what happened," Bouchut explained.
His team should be able to fix everything up before the race.
The LMPC pole went to former Champ Car racer Bruno Junqueira, who is at the wheel of RSR Racing's ORECA FLM09 prototype this year. He bested IndyCar driver EJ Viso.
In GTE Pro, it was Gimmi Bruni who took the pole for AF Corse, aboard his Ferrari 458. He was followed by Luxury Racing's Jaime Melo and Corvette Racing's Jan Magnussen.
"GT this year is a real fighting class – very good," Bruni said. "The level is getting higher and higher, and we have been working so hard to be there and it is a good starting point for Ferrari and AF Corse, for sure. It will be a good fight tomorrow."
Dominik Farnbacher was best GTE Am, while in GTC, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin's teammate Leh Keen took the third spot behind pole sitter Sean Edwards.
"It is a big learning week on my end," admits Dumoulin. "The ALMS series is very different [from what] I have done. […] It is a little overwhelming at times, but very fun."
The race start is set for Saturday 10:35 am.
Source: ALMS.com
Qualifying results – 12 Hours of Sebring (Sebring, FLA)
1 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 TDI) 1m45.820s (LPM1)
2 Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 TDI) 1m46.215s
3 Bernhard/Dumas/Duval (Audi R18 TDI) 1m46.935s
4 Luhr/Graf/Pagenaud (HPD-Honda) 1m47.536s
5 Moreau/Baguette/Kraihamer (OAK-Pescarolo-Judd) 1m48.319s
6 Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck (HPD-Honda) 1m48.439s
7 Leventis/Watts/Kane (HPD-Honda) 1m48.590s
8 Prost/Jani/Heidfeld (Lola-Toyota) 1m48.630s
9 Belicchi/Primat/Bleekemolen (Lola-Toyota) 1m48.956s
10 Collard/Boullion/Jousse (Pescarolo-Judd) 1m50.200s
11 Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla (Morgan-Judd), 1min50.467s (P2)
...
21 Junqueira/Drissi/Gonzalez (Oreca FLM09), 1min54.510s (LMPC)
31 Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander (Ferrari F458 GT), 1min58.427s (GTE Pro)
40 Ehret/Farnbacher/Jakubowski (Ferrari F458 Italia),2min00.184s (GTE Am)
52 Cisneros/Edwards/Kauffmann (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup), 2min06.674s, (GTC)
This means the same Le Mans winning trio of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer are taking a serious option on what could be Audi's first win at Sebring since 2009. The 60th edition of the classic event marks this year's World Endurance Championship (WEC) and American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season openers.
 |
| Catch me if you can, says Audi (Photo: Audi Motorsport) |
"This pole is really nice for the staff as the guys work so hard to prepare for this race," said Lotterer after the session.
Aboard his Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a, Klaus Graf took fourth – the first spot left behind the three Audis – besting all the non-diesel and the non-WEC teams.
In the P2 class, Olivier Pla clocked the best lap in his Oak Racing Morgan-Judd, which put him clear of ex-Peugeot driver Stéphane Sarrazin, driving this year for Starworks Motorsports.
"I had a chance to test here before, so I had a pretty good idea of the circuit," Pla said. "I was really looking forward to racing here. The car is amazing. We had an incident on Monday and our team did a great job to get the car back and ready to go. The car felt perfect in qualifying."
Christophe Bouchut topped the ALMS drivers in P2, but drove into the wall moments after finishing his best lap so far – to dodge a slow car on the race line.
"From my perspective, at that time, there was nothing else I could do or else the car would have hit me and then it would have been worse than what happened," Bouchut explained.
His team should be able to fix everything up before the race.
The LMPC pole went to former Champ Car racer Bruno Junqueira, who is at the wheel of RSR Racing's ORECA FLM09 prototype this year. He bested IndyCar driver EJ Viso.
In GTE Pro, it was Gimmi Bruni who took the pole for AF Corse, aboard his Ferrari 458. He was followed by Luxury Racing's Jaime Melo and Corvette Racing's Jan Magnussen.
"GT this year is a real fighting class – very good," Bruni said. "The level is getting higher and higher, and we have been working so hard to be there and it is a good starting point for Ferrari and AF Corse, for sure. It will be a good fight tomorrow."
Dominik Farnbacher was best GTE Am, while in GTC, Louis-Philippe Dumoulin's teammate Leh Keen took the third spot behind pole sitter Sean Edwards.
"It is a big learning week on my end," admits Dumoulin. "The ALMS series is very different [from what] I have done. […] It is a little overwhelming at times, but very fun."
The race start is set for Saturday 10:35 am.
Source: ALMS.com
Qualifying results – 12 Hours of Sebring (Sebring, FLA)
1 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 TDI) 1m45.820s (LPM1)
2 Capello/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 TDI) 1m46.215s
3 Bernhard/Dumas/Duval (Audi R18 TDI) 1m46.935s
4 Luhr/Graf/Pagenaud (HPD-Honda) 1m47.536s
5 Moreau/Baguette/Kraihamer (OAK-Pescarolo-Judd) 1m48.319s
6 Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck (HPD-Honda) 1m48.439s
7 Leventis/Watts/Kane (HPD-Honda) 1m48.590s
8 Prost/Jani/Heidfeld (Lola-Toyota) 1m48.630s
9 Belicchi/Primat/Bleekemolen (Lola-Toyota) 1m48.956s
10 Collard/Boullion/Jousse (Pescarolo-Judd) 1m50.200s
11 Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla (Morgan-Judd), 1min50.467s (P2)
...
21 Junqueira/Drissi/Gonzalez (Oreca FLM09), 1min54.510s (LMPC)
31 Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander (Ferrari F458 GT), 1min58.427s (GTE Pro)
40 Ehret/Farnbacher/Jakubowski (Ferrari F458 Italia),2min00.184s (GTE Am)
52 Cisneros/Edwards/Kauffmann (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup), 2min06.674s, (GTC)