Laguna Seca ALMS: Neel Jani and Nick Heidfeld on pole for Rebellion

Jani, who shares the Lola-Toyota with ex-Formula 1 driver Nick Heidfeld, kept Rebellion just out of its rivals' reach throughout LMP1 qualifying.

At times the Swiss driver was a second clear, but Dyson's Guy Smith and Pickett's Klaus Graf kept closing in while swapping second place.

Smith eventually took the outside front row spot, 0.3s off pole and a tenth ahead of Graf.

The Level 5 HPDs battled for LMP2 pole. Both Marino Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe had spins - at the final corner and the Corkscrew respectively - before the Scot took class honours by three tenths of a second.

Matteo Malucelli claimed his first pole in the ALMS as he kept Risi's Ferrari ahead of a superb GT debut from CORE's Porsche. Long-time Porsche star Patrick Long showed his new team's pace by getting within 0.009s of beating Risi.

The top seven GT cars were within half a second, as the Falken Porsche, Corvettes, BMWs and AJR/West Ferrari joined the pole fight.

CORE's good day continued in its usual LMPC home, where Colin Braun put it on pole. Jeroen Bleekemolen was fastest in GTC.

Pos  Cl   Qual Driver            Team/Car                   Time       Class gap
 1.  P1   Neel Jani              Rebellion Lola-Toyota      1m13.429s
 2.  P1   Guy Smith              Dyson Lola-Mazda           1m13.806s  + 0.377s
 3.  P1   Klaus Graf             Pickett HPD                1m13.954s  + 0.525s
 4.  P2   Marino Franchitti      Level 5 HPD                1m16.642s
 5.  P2   Ryan Briscoe           Level 5 HPD                1m17.002s  + 0.360s
 6.  PC   Colin Braun            CORE FLM                   1m17.382s
 7.  P2   Johannes van Overbeek  Extreme Speed HPD          1m18.591s  + 1.949s
 8.  PC   Renger van der Zande   8Star FLM                  1m18.685s  + 1.303s
 9.  P2   Guy Cosmo              Extreme Speed HPD          1m18.880s  + 2.238s
10.  PC   Bruno Junqueira        RSR FLM                    1m19.076s  + 1.694s
11.  PC   Luis Diaz              PR1 Mathiasen FLM          1m19.302s  + 1.920s
12.  PC   Kyle Marcelli          BAR1 FLM                   1m19.436s  + 2.054s
13.  PC   Tristan Nunez          Performance Tech FLM       1m19.757s  + 2.375s
14.  PC   Rusty Mitchell         BAR1 FLM                   1m19.762s  + 2.380s
15.  P1   Andy Meyrick           DeltaWing                  1m22.078s  + 8.649s
16.  GT   Matteo Malucelli       Risi Ferrari               1m22.732s
17.  GT   Patrick Long           CORE Porsche               1m22.823s  + 0.091s
18.  GT   Bryan Sellers          Falken Porsche             1m22.908s  + 0.176s
19.  GT   Olver Gavin            Corvette                   1m22.924s  + 0.192s
20.  GT   Maxime Martin          RLL BMW                    1m22.990s  + 0.258s
21.  GT   Antonio Garcia         Corvette                   1m23.042s  + 0.310s
22.  GT   Townsend Bell          West/AJR Ferrari           1m23.217s  + 0.485s
23.  GT   Dirk Muller            RLL BMW                    1m23.406s  + 0.674s
24.  GT   Marc Goossens          SRT Viper                  1m23.615s  + 0.883s
25.  GT   Bryce Miller           Miller Porsche             1m23.743s  + 1.011s
26.  GT   Kuno Wittmer           SRT Viper                  1m24.031s  + 1.299s
27.  GTC  Jeroen Bleekemolen     Alex Job Porsche           1m27.296s
28.  GTC  Nick Tandy             NGT Porsche                1m27.407s  + 0.111s
29.  GTC  Andy Lally             Dempsey Del Piero Porsche  1m27.495s  + 0.199s
30.  GTC  Spencer Pumpelly       Flying Lizard Porsche      1m27.628s  + 0.332s
31.  GTC  Jan Heylen             JDX Porsche                1m28.272s  + 0.976s
32.  GTC  Dion von Moltke        Flying Lizard Porsche      1m28.424s  + 1.128s
33.  GTC  Andrew Davis           Dempsey Del Piero Porsche  1m28.741s  + 1.445s
34.  GTC  Damien Faulkner        TRG Porsche                1m29.545s  + 2.249s
35.  GTC  Cort Wagner            Competition Porsche        1m29.604s  + 2.308s
36.  GTC  Andrew Novich          TRG Porsche                1m30.151s  + 2.855s