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Sebring 12 Hours qualifying: Olivier Pla on pole in Krohn Ligier

Olivier Pla set two laps good enough for pole position aboard the Krohn Racing Ligier-Judd/BMW JSP2 in qualifying for the Sebring 12 Hours

The Frenchman ended up on a 1m51.152s during the 15-minute prototype class qualifying session, which put him three tenths ahead of Ryan Dalziel's Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-03b.

Dalziel had trailed Pla by seven tenths, but he improved on his last flying lap to a 1m51.455s.

Pla said: "It is something special to be on pole at Sebring.

"The more laps we did, the quicker we went, and I think I had another lap in my pocket if I needed it.

"The track changed a lot because the wind was a lot stronger; it changed the balance and made it loose at the rear."

Joao Barbosa set the best time in a Daytona Prototype to line up third behind the two LMP2 cars in the lead Action Express Racing Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP.

The reigning Tudor United SportsCar champion finished on a 1m52.128s, putting him just ahead of Oswaldo Negri Jr in the Michael Shank Racing Ligier-Honda JSP2, which only just made qualifying after an engine change in the wake of final free practice.

The factory CORE Porsche team blocked out the front two positions in GT Le Mans with Frederic Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet.

Makowiecki jumped ahead of Antonio Garcia's Chevrolet Corvette C7.R to take the class pole with a 1m58.587s and then Pilet improved his best to put the #911 Porsche 911 RSR second with a 1m58.806s.

Garcia ended up third, his 1m58.828s leaving him just ahead of Rahal BMW driver Dirk Werner.

Martin Plowman led the way in the prototype challenge class with a 1m55.257s aboard the BAR1 ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09.

That put him a tenth up on Colin Braun in the CORE Autosport entry.

Jeroen Bleekemolen snatched pole for the GT Daytona class at the wheel of the Riley Motorsports Dodge SRT Viper GT3-R from Mario Farnbacher's Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America.

The Dutchman crossed the line in 2m03.485s to eclipse Farnbacher's best by just five hundredths of a second.

The top two were more than half a second ahead of third-placed Spencer Pumpelly, who ended up on a 2m04.106s in his Park Place Porsche.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 P Olivier Pla Krohn Racing Ligier/Judd 1m51.152s -
2 P Ryan Dalziel Tequila Patron ESM HPD 1m51.455s 0.303s
3 P Joao Barbosa Action Express Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 1m52.128s 0.976s
4 P Oswaldo Negri Jr. Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ligier/HPD 1m52.170s 1.018s
5 P Dane Cameron Action Express Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 1m52.490s 1.338s
6 P Richard Westbrook visitflorida.com Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 1m52.691s 1.539s
7 P Ricky Taylor Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 1m52.720s 1.568s
8 P Johannes van Overbeek Tequila Patron ESM HPD 1m53.047s 1.895s
9 P Joey Hand Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Riley/Ford 1m53.329s 2.177s
10 P Memo Rojas Claro / TracFone DeltaWing Racing DeltaWing/Elan 1m55.223s 4.071s
11 PC Martin Plowman BAR1 Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 1m55.257s 4.105s
12 PC Colin Braun CORE Autosport ORECA/Chevrolet 1m55.327s 4.175s
13 PC Tom Kimber-Smith PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 1m55.416s 4.264s
14 PC Conor Daly Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 1m55.748s 4.596s
15 PC Chris Cumming RSR Racing ORECA/Chevrolet 1m56.450s 5.298s
16 PC Rusty Mitchell JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 1m57.248s 6.096s
17 P Tristan Nunez Speedsource Mazda 1m57.421s 6.269s
18 PC Alex Popow Starworks Motorsport ORECA/Chevrolet 1m57.842s 6.690s
19 GTLM Frederic Makowiecki Porsche North America Porsche 1m58.587s 7.435s
20 GTLM Patrick Pilet Porsche North America Porsche 1m58.806s 7.654s
21 GTLM Antonio Garcia Corvette Racing Chevrolet 1m58.828s 7.676s
22 GTLM Dirk Werner BMW Team RLL BMW 1m58.842s 7.690s
23 GTLM Giancarlo Fisichella Risi Competizione Ferrari 1m58.927s 7.775s
24 GTLM Lucas Luhr BMW Team RLL BMW 1m58.930s 7.778s
25 GTLM Tommy Milner Corvette Racing Chevrolet 1m59.451s 8.299s
26 GTLM Wolf Henzler Team Falken Tire Porsche 1m59.787s 8.635s
27 GTLM Pedro Lamy Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m59.896s 8.744s
28 GTD Jeroen Bleekemolen Riley Motorsports Dodge 2m03.485s 12.333s
29 GTD Mario Farnbacher Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 2m03.538s 12.386s
30 GTD Spencer Pumpelly Park Place Motorsports Porsche 2m04.106s 12.954s
31 GTD Leh Keen Alex Job Racing Porsche 2m04.339s 13.187s
32 GTD James Davison TRG-AMR Aston Martin 2m04.855s 13.703s
33 GTD Damien Faulkner GB Autosport Porsche 2m04.930s 13.778s
34 GTD Andy Lally Magnus Racing Porsche 2m04.944s 13.792s
35 GTD Jan Heylen Wright Motorsports Porsche 2m05.059s 13.907s
36 GTD Ben Keating Riley Motorsports Dodge 2m05.081s 13.929s
37 GTD Bryce Miller Paul Miller Racing Audi 2m05.265s 14.113s
38 GTD Marco Holzer Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi 2m05.499s 14.347s
39 GTD Marco Cioci AF Corse Ferrari 2m05.781s 14.629s
40 GTD Anthony Lazzaro Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 2m06.479s 15.327s
41 GTD Boris Said Turner Motorsport BMW 2m07.373s 16.221s
42 P T.Long, J.Miller, B.Devlin, S.Tremblay Speedsource Mazda - -
43 P J.Pace, B.Defoor, D.Hinton, D.Schroeder Fifty Plus Racing Riley/BMW - -

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