Dixon gives Acura shock Sebring pole
De Ferran Motorsports' Scott Dixon put the new LMP1 Acura on a shock pole position for the Sebring 12 Hours, beating the diesel Audis and Peugeots
The IndyCar champion snatched the top spot on the ARX-02a's debut in the final minute of qualifying, usurping Audi's Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen by 0.082 seconds.
With three minutes remaining, that same 0.082s margin had covered the top four on the grid, as Audi's Mike Rockenfeller provisionally held first place ahead of Peugeot driver Sebastien Bourdais, Dixon and Kristensen.
Peugeot's Christian Klien had spun at Turn 2 on his first flying lap, but then briefly shot up to pole before Kristensen threw in a 1m45.360s lap seconds later.
That looked good enough for pole until Dixon's incredible last gasp effort on 11-lap-old tyres, with Kristensen abandoning his final run when he realised it would not beat the Acura.
"It was definitely nail-biting," said Dixon. "On the first run you always try to put a time down and they came back and matched that.
"We tried to push as much as we could and luckily this car seems to get quicker and quicker on its tyres."
Klien's #7 Peugeot stayed third ahead of Rockenfeller's No.1 Audi and the No.08 Peugeot, while David Brabham put the Highcroft Acura sixth on the grid.
Acura took a double pole as Adrian Fernandez led the way in LMP2, two seconds quicker than the still-developing Dyson Lola-Mazdas.
Porsche out-ran Ferrari in GT2 qualifying, with Farnbacher Loles' Dirk Werner heading Flying Lizard's Jorg Bergmeister by 0.382s. Advanced Engineering's Gianmaria Bruni was the best of the Ferrari drivers in third, just 0.054s behind Bergmeister, and 0.342s quicker than Risi's Mika Salo.
The underdog shock of the session came from the Robertson Racing Doran Ford, as veteran David Murry put the car fifth on the GT2 grid, a highly respectable 1.3s away from Werner's pole time.
Bill Auberlen was seventh in the best of the new Rahal Letterman BMWs, but the sister car developed technical problems before it could set a time.
Oliver Gavin beat Jan Magnussen to pole in the all-Corvette GT1 class, as the C6-R makes its final Sebring appearance.
Pos Cl Drivers Car Time 1. LMP1 De Ferran/Pagenaud/Dixon Acura ARX-02a 1:45.278 2. LMP1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi R15 TDI 1:45.360 3. LMP1 Minassian/Lamy/Klien Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 1:45.462 4. LMP1 Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner Audi R15 TDI 1:45.551 5. LMP1 Montagny/Sarrazin/Bourdais Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 1:45.559 6. LMP1 Brabham/Sharp/Franchitti Acura ARX-02a 1:46.504 7. LMP2 Fernandez/Diaz Acura ARX-01B 1:49.686 8. LMP2 Dyson/Smith/Lally Lola B09 86 Mazda 1:51.534 9. LMP1 McMurry/Willman/Burgess Lola B06/10 AER 1:51.598 10. LMP2 Leitzinger/Franchitti/Devlin Lola B09 86 Mazda 1:51.840 11. GT1 Gavin/Beretta/Fassler Corvette C6.R 1:57.882 12. GT1 O'Connell/Magnussen/Garcia Corvette C6.R 1:58.203 13. GT2 Henzler/Werner/Lietz Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 2:03.051 14. GT2 Bergmeister/Long/Lieb Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 2:03.433 15. GT2 Companc/Russo/Bruni Ferrari 430 GT 2:03.487 16. GT2 Melo/Kaffer/Salo Ferrari 430 GT 2:03.829 17. GT2 Robertson/Robertson/Murry Doran Ford GT MK 7 2:04.333 18. GT2 Farnbacher/James Panoz Esperante GTLM 2:04.437 19. GT2 Hand/Auberlen BMW E92 M3 2:04.566 20. GT2 Feinberg/Hall/Holt Dodge Viper 2:05.619 21. GT2 Drayson/Cocker/Bell Aston Martin 2:05.692 22. GT2 Pastorelli/Stuck/Stuck Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 2:05.805 23. GT2 Gigliotti/Curran/Molo Chevrolet Riley 2:06.678 24. GT2 Krohn/Jonsson/van de Poele Ferrari 430 GT 2:08.386 25. GT2 Law/Neiman/van Overbeek Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 2:10.912 26. GT2 Westbrook/Basseng/Arnold Porsche 911 GT3 RSR No time 27. LMP1 Field/Field/Ducote Lola B06/10 AER No time 28. GT2 Muller/Milner BMW E92 M3 No time
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