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Aston beats Highcroft to pole

Adrian Fernandez put Aston Martin on pole position for round two of the American Le Mans Series in Long Beach - but only after a very tight battle with Highcroft HPD's Simon Pagenaud

In the first event for the new combined and performance-balanced single LMP class, the LMP1 Aston and LMP2 HPD proved evenly-matched.

Fernandez set the early pace, but was then pipped by Pagenaud just before a mid-session stoppage to clear debris.

When qualifying resumed for a final shoot-out, Fernandez reclaimed the top spot with a 1m13.213s lap, and Pagenaud had to settle for second after lapping just 0.072 seconds slower on his last effort.

The pole combatants ended up a second clear of the rest of the field, with the Dyson Lola-Mazda and CytoSport Porsche lining up third and fourth on the grid.

Jon Field was back after his ferocious Sebring practice accident and took Intersport's older Lola to fifth.

Drayson will start back in sixth after Jonny Cocker went down an escape road early in the session and had difficult extricating the car.

Jaime Melo gave Risi Ferrari another pole in the rebranded GT class. The Brazilian needed only a single run early in the session to immediately go half a second clear of his rivals, before returning to the pits to watch them fail to beat him.

Wolf Henzler underlined Falken Porsche's gains this year with second. The two Corvettes will start third and fifth in class, split by the top Flying Lizard Porsche, with the Rahal Letterman BMWs and Extreme Speed Ferraris next up.

Level 5 driver Christophe Bouchut was fastest among the LMPC field, just ahead of Gunnar Jeanette's Green Earth Gunnar entry. Black Swan Racing's Jeroen Bleekemolen took GTC pole, beating TRG's Andy Lally in the all-Porsche GT3 class.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                Car                Time       Gap
 1.  P    Primat/Fernandez       Lola-Aston Martin  1m13.213s
 2.  P    Brabham/Pagenaud       HPD                1m13.285s  + 0.072s
 3.  P    Dyson/Smith            Lola-Mazda         1m14.191s  + 0.978s
 4.  P    Pickett/Graf           Porsche            1m14.259s  + 1.046s
 5.  P    Field/Field/Konstant   Lola               1m15.136s  + 1.923s
 6.  P    Drayson/Cocker         Lola               1m17.084s  + 3.871s
 7.  PC   Tucker/Bouchut         ORECA              1m17.273s  + 4.060s
 8.  PC   Julian/Jeannette       ORECA              1m17.520s  + 4.307s
 9.  P    Drissi/Davis           Lola               1m17.611s  + 4.398s
10.  PC   Hildebrand/Sutherland  ORECA              1m18.186s  + 4.973s
11.  PC   Bonilla/Marcelli       ORECA              1m18.422s  + 5.209s
12.  GT   Melo/Bruni             Ferrari            1m19.581s  + 6.368s
13.  GT   Sellers/Henzler        Porsche            1m20.179s  + 6.966s
14.  GT   Magnussen/O'Connell    Corvette           1m20.308s  + 7.095s
15.  GT   Bergmeister/Long       Porsche            1m20.424s  + 7.211s
16.  GT   Beretta/Gavin          Corvette           1m20.438s  + 7.225s
17.  GT   Auberlen/Milner        BMW                1m20.486s  + 7.273s
18.  GT   Mueller/Hand           BMW                1m20.564s  + 7.351s
19.  GT   Brown/Cosmo            Ferrari            1m20.587s  + 7.374s
20.  PC   Tucker/Hunter-Reay     ORECA              1m21.151s  + 7.938s
21.  GT   Sharp/van Overbeek     Ferrari            1m21.346s  + 8.133s
22.  GT   Law/Neiman             Porsche            1m21.457s  + 8.244s
23.  GT   Robertson/Murry        Doran Ford         1m21.960s  + 8.747s
24.  PC   Pagerey/Wong           ORECA              1m22.014s  + 8.801s
25.  GT   Gentilozzi/Dalziel     Jaguar             1m22.985s  + 9.772s
26.  PC   Mowlem/Papadopoulos    ORECA              1m23.599s  + 10.386s
27.  GTC  Pappas/Bleekemolen     Porsche            1m23.857s  + 10.644s
28.  GTC  Richard/Lally          Porsche            1m24.098s  + 10.885s
29.  GTC  Curtis/Sofronas        Porsche            1m24.256s  + 11.043s
30.  GTC  Gonzalez/Leitzinger    Porsche            1m24.288s  + 11.075s
31.  GTC  Sweedler/Kapudija      Porsche            1m24.462s  + 11.249s
32.  GTC  Lewis/Vento            Porsche            1m24.672s  + 11.459s
33.  GTC  Miller/McMullen        Porsche            1m24.730s  + 11.517s
34.  GTC  Rodriguez/Bieker       Porsche            1m24.968s  + 11.755s
35.  GTC  Beggs/Baron            Porsche            1m25.952s  + 12.739s
36.  GTC  Gonzalez/Diaz          Porsche            1m26.771s  + 13.558s

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