MSR's Olivier Pla on pole in all-Ligier Sebring 12 Hours front row
Olivier Pla shocked the Daytona Prototype field to take a stunning Sebring 12 Hours pole in his Michael Shank Racing Ligier JSP2
Pla set a best time of 1m51.217s in the closing stages of a frantic 15-minute session, to record the fastest time of the weekend as P2 cars locked out the front row for round two of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
His pole was all the more remarkable given his MSR team had been forced to work into the night to repair its JSP2 after John Pew crashed heavily in the third practice session.
The Daytona 24 Hours-winning Extreme Speed Motorsports JSP2 was second in the hands of Pipo Derani, the Brazilian falling 0.174 seconds short of Pla's effort.
Action Express's pair of Corvette DPs had completed a clean sweep of fastest times in all four of the preceding practice sessions ahead of the 64th edition of the race, but were forced to settle for a second-row lockout with Dane Cameron taking third in the #31 machine.
He was followed by Christian Fittipaldi in the #5 sister car, the Brazilian having led the early stages of the session before dropping down the order and running off track in the final minutes.
The #54 CORE Autosport entry continued to dominate Prototype Challenge proceedings, with Colin Braun almost a second clear of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports driver Tom Kimber-Smith.
Bill Auberlen topped the GT Le Mans runners in his BMW Team RLL M6 GTLM ahead of the sister car piloted by John Edwards, with three quarters of a second separating the entire class.
The Daytona-winning Corvette Racing C7.R qualified seventh in the hands of Tommy Milner, one place behind the sister entry piloted by Antonio Garcia.
Jeff Segal took the GT Daytona class pole in his Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 in a frenetic session, edging out the Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R of Jeroen Bleekemolen by a mere 0.036s.
Segal's pole was also the first achieved by a 488 in competition, the car making its IMSA debut this weekend.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | P | J.Pew, O.Negri, O.Pla | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Ligier/HPD | 1m51.217s | - |
2 | P | S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, P.Derani | Tequila Patron ESM | Ligier/HPD | 1m51.391s | 0.174s |
3 | P | D.Cameron, E.Curran, S.Pruett | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m51.943s | 0.726s |
4 | P | C.Fittipaldi, J.Barbosa, F.Albuquerque, S.Pruett | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m52.205s | 0.988s |
5 | P | J.Bomarito, T.Nunez, S.Pigot | Mazda Motorsports | Lola/Mazda | 1m52.951s | 1.734s |
6 | P | R.Dalziel, M.Goossens, R.H.-Reay | Visit Florida Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m53.185s | 1.968s |
7 | P | J.Miller, T.Long, B.Devlin, K.Ihara | Mazda Motorsports | Lola/Mazda | 1m53.513s | 2.296s |
8 | P | R.Taylor, J.Taylor, M.Angelelli, R.Barrichello | Wayne Taylor Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m53.576s | 2.359s |
9 | P | H.Hedman, N.Lapierre, N.Minassian | DragonSpeed | ORECA/Nissan | 1m54.171s | 2.954s |
10 | P | C.de Quesada, D.Morad, C.Lawrence, D.Farnbacher | Alegra Motorsports | Riley/BMW | 1m54.193s | 2.976s |
11 | P | K.Legge, S.Rayhall, A.Meyrick | Panoz DeltaWing Racing | DeltaWing/Elan | 1m54.274s | 3.057s |
12 | PC | J.Bennett, C.Braun, M.Wilkins | CORE Autosport | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m54.910s | - |
13 | PC | T.K.-Smith, J.Gutierrez, R.Alon | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m55.843s | - |
14 | PC | J.Mowlem, R.Lewis, M.Drumwright, D.Yount | BAR1 Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m56.661s | - |
15 | PC | J.French, K.Marcelli, J.Norman | Performance Tech Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m57.189s | - |
16 | PC | A.Popow, R.van der Zande, D.H.Hansson | Starworks Motorsport | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m57.241s | - |
17 | P | J.Pace, B.Defoor, D.Hinton, D.Schroeder | Highway to Help | Riley/BMW | 1m57.422s | - |
18 | PC | C.Miller, M.Goikhberg, S.Simpson, K.Koch | JDC-Miller Motorsports | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m57.630s | - |
19 | PC | S.Johnston, M.Engel, M.Lyons | Starworks Motorsport | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m58.218s | - |
20 | GTLM | B.Auberlen, D.Werner, B.Spengler | BMW Team RLL | BMW | 1m58.402s | - |
21 | GTLM | L.Luhr, J.M.Edwards, K.Wittmer | BMW Team RLL | BMW | 1m58.592s | - |
22 | GTLM | A.P.Guidi, D.Serra, A.Bertolini | Scuderia Corsa | Ferrari | 1m58.637s | - |
23 | GTLM | R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Dixon | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ford | 1m58.708s | - |
24 | GTLM | A.Garcia, J.Magnussen, M.Rockenfeller | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 1m58.856s | - |
25 | GTLM | O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 1m58.878s | - |
26 | GTLM | P.Pilet, N.Tandy, K.Estre | Porsche North America | Porsche | 1m59.009s | - |
27 | GTLM | G.Fisichella, T.Vilander, D.Rigon | Risi Competizione | Ferrari | 1m59.020s | - |
28 | GTLM | J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ford | 1m59.053s | - |
29 | GTLM | E.Bamber, F.Makowiecki, M.Christensen | Porsche North America | Porsche | 1m59.170s | - |
30 | GTD | C.Nielsen, A.Balzan, J.Segal | Scuderia Corsa | Ferrari | 2m02.350s | - |
31 | GTD | B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, M.Miller | Riley Motorsports | Dodge | 2m02.386s | - |
32 | GTD | B.Curtis, J.Klingmann, A.Freiberg | Turner Motorsport | BMW | 2m02.660s | - |
33 | GTD | M.Farnbacher, A.Riberas, I.James | Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing | Porsche | 2m03.037s | - |
34 | GTD | C.MacNeil, L.Keen, G.Jeannette | Alex Job Racing | Porsche | 2m03.241s | - |
35 | GTD | P.Lindsey, J.Bergmeister, M.McMurry, J.Heylen | Park Place Motorsports | Porsche | 2m03.284s | - |
36 | GTD | M.Cressoni, R.Giammaria, P.Mann | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 2m03.340s | - |
37 | GTD | S.Pumpelly, C.Lewis, A.Carter | Change Racing | Lamborghini | 2m03.455s | - |
38 | GTD | M.Marsal, M.Palttala, J.Krohn | Turner Motorsport | BMW | 2m03.625s | - |
39 | GTD | P.Ehret, C.Zochling, J.Krebs | Konrad Motorsport | Lamborghini | 2m03.822s | - |
40 | GTD | L.Aschenbach, M.Bell, D.von Moltke | Stevenson Motorsports | Audi | 2m03.856s | - |
41 | GTD | T.Bell, B.Sweedler, R.Antinucci | Change Racing | Lamborghini | 2m03.861s | - |
42 | GTD | P.Ruberti, C.Sbirrazzuoli, F.Babini, L.Persiani | Dream Racing | Lamborghini | 2m03.933s | - |
43 | GTD | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda, R.Stanaway | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m04.204s | - |
44 | GTD | B.Miller, B.Sellers, M.Snow | Paul Miller Racing | Audi | 2m04.260s | - |
45 | GTD | T.Borcheller, F.Konrad, C.Bruck, J.Webster | Konrad Motorsport | Lamborghini | 2m04.302s | - |
46 | GTD | J.Potter, A.Lally, M.Seefried | Magnus Racing | Audi | 2m04.857s | - |
47 | GTD | T.Pappas, N.Catsburg, P.Long, A.Pilgrim | Black Swan Racing | Porsche | 2m07.095s | - |
48 | GTD | T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, P.Kaffer | Flying Lizard Motorsports | Lamborghini | 2m07.338s | - |
49 | GTD | R.Liddell, A.Davis, C.De Phillippi | Stevenson Motorsports | Audi | - | - |
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