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Aston leads first day of Sebring test

Aston Martin Racing marked its return to the American Le Mans Series by claiming the fastest time in yesterday's Sebring test

New driver Adrian Fernandez set a 1m47.826s as he acclimatised to Aston's LMP1 coupe, putting him 0.2 seconds ahead of Intersport's Lola.

"It's very different," said Fernandez, who won last year's LMP2 title with his Acura. "Everything looks different inside. You get use to it. But it's definitely different, and this is my first time in the car and the car is a lot heavier than the P2 car I drove last year. But it's a lot faster. It sounds beautiful and looks sharp.

"I'm enjoying every second of it. I'm very happy. It's a great team, great drivers, and I'm very happy to work with them. It's my very first time in the car, I'm not really going the proper speed yet. But I'm working step-by-step, so I'm looking forward to the three-year relationship."

The top two cars both set their best times in the morning session, with Intersport crashing in the afternoon and causing a stoppage.

Last year's LMP1 champion squad Highcroft was third in the LMP2-spec Acura - now entered under HPD branding - it will use in 2010. Although the season-opening Sebring 12 Hours runs to full Le Mans rules, the performance of LMP1 and LMP2 cars will be balanced for most of the ALMS season to allow them to fight for overall victories in a unified prototype class.

The Cytosport Porsche and Dyson Lola-Mazda completed the top five, with Andy Meyrick making his first official appearance for the latter squad alongside Chris Dyson and Guy Smith.

Green Earth Team Gunnar was quickest in the new LMP Challenge class, ahead of Genoa Racing, which recruited Andy Wallace to assist with the initial test of its car.

Risi Ferrari topped GT2, followed by the best of the Rahal Letterman BMWs and the lead Flying Lizard Porsche, with LMP1 co-champion driver Scott Sharp's new Extreme Speed Ferrari GT2 squad fourth.

Darrell Carlisle led the all-Porsche GT3 GT Challenge division for Kelly Moss Racing.

Pre-race favourite Peugeot has chosen not to bring its LMP1 diesels to this test, with GT2 frontrunner Corvette also skipping this week's group session.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                            Car                Time
 1.  P1   Primat/Fernandez/Mucke/Buncombe    Lola-Aston Martin  1m47.826s
 2.  P1   Field/Field                        Lola-AER           1m48.066s
 3.  P2   Brabham/Pagenaud/Franchitti        HPD                1m48.263s
 4.  P2   Pickett/Graf                       Porsche            1m49.187s
 5.  P2   Dyson/Smith/Meyrick                Lola-Mazda         1m50.261s
 6.  PC   Zugel/Jeannette/Julian             Oreca              1m57.131s
 7.  PC   Connor/Wallace                     Oreca              1m57.580s
 8.  PC   Feinberg/Marcelli                  Oreca              1m58.265s
 9.  PC   Tucker/Bouchut                     Oreca              1m58.552s
10.  PC   Pagerey/Wong                       Oreca              2m01.976s
11.  GT2  Melo/Bruni                         Ferrari            2m02.286s
12.  GT2  Auberlen/Milner                    BMW                2m02.584s
13.  GT2  Bergmeister/Long                   Porsche            2m03.125s
14.  GT2  Sharp/van Overbeek                 Ferrari            2m03.169s
15.  GT2  Mueller/Hand/Werner                BMW                2m03.211s
16.  GT2  Law/Neiman                         Porsche            2m03.651s
17.  GT2  Brown/Cosmo                        Ferrari            2m03.862s
18.  GT2  Sellers/Henzler                    Porsche            2m03.971s
19.  GT2  Pappas/Bleekemolen                 Porsche            2m05.948s
20.  GT2  Robertson/Robertson/Murry          Doran Ford         2m06.136s
21.  GTC  Carlisle                           Porsche            2m07.902s
22.  GTC  Walton                             Porsche            2m08.217s
23.  GT2  Gentilozzi/Goossens/Drissi/Pruett  Jaguar             2m08.324s
24.  GTC  LeSaffre                           Porsche            2m08.581s
25.  GTC  Holden                             Porsche            2m09.499s
26.  GTC  Curtis/Sofronas                    Porsche            2m10.211s
27.  GTC  Lewis/Vento                        Porsche            2m10.714s
28.  GTC  Rodriguez/Bieker/Friedman          Porsche            2m11.085s

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