Flying Lizard takes Daytona pole

The 2006 Daytona Prototype champion, who last drove one of Grand-Am's prototypes in 2007, claimed the top spot with a new class qualifying record of 1m40.099s aboard the Flying Lizard Riley-Porsche MkXI/XX as the leading GT team made its DP debut. The German was just over three one hundredths of a second ahead of 2010 pole-winner Max Angelelli aboard the SunTrust Dallara-Chevrolet DP01.

Bergmeister, who shares his Riley with team boss Seth Neiman, Patrick Long and Johannes van Overbeek, said: "I have to thank the team. It is our first time with a DP, so this is pretty impressive. I was only aiming for a top five, so I was really surprised to get pole."

The first of the Ganassi Rileys qualified third in the hands of reigning Grand-Am DP champion Scott Pruett, who was just over a tenth slower than Angelelli. Expat Briton Ryan Dalziel, who was fastest in pre-event testing in early-January, ended up fourth fastest in the best of the Starworks Riley-Fords.

Former Daytona winner Martin Brundle was ninth fastest in his first major race in nearly 10 years. He ended up just under seven tenths shy of pole in his Michael Shank Racing-run United Autosports Riley-Ford.

Pos  Drivers                               Car            Time
 1.  Long/Bergmeister/Neiman/van Overbeek  Riley-Porsche  1m40.099s
 2.  Taylor/Angelelli/Taylor/Briscoe       Dallara-Chevy  1m40.133s
 3.  Pruett/Rojas/Rahal/Hand               Riley-BMW      1m40.245s
 4.  Forest/Dalziel/Lowe/Braun/Enge        Riley-Ford     1m40.250s
 5.  Dixon/Montoya/Franchitti/McMurray     Riley-BMW      1m40.302s
 6.  Garcia/Edwards/Maassen                Coyote-Chevy   1m40.396s
 7.  Frisselle/Richard/Bell/Kaiser         Dallara-Ford   1m40.468s
 8.  Allmendinger/Wilson/McDowell          Dallara-Ford   1m40.469s
 9.  Brown/Patterson/Blundell/Brundle      Riley-Ford     1m40.784s
10.  Fogarty/Gurney/Johnson                Riley-Chevy    1m40.828s