Audi on St Petersburg pole
Audi's Marco Werner claimed a surprise pole position for the St Petersburg round of the American Le Mans Series
The German, who will share the No. 2 R10 TDi with Lucas Luhr, needed only three laps to take outright pole with a time of 1:02.825.
Werner's flying lap improved by three seconds over his practice times - Audi having trailed the LMP2 cars prior to qualifying - and also beat the existing lap record.
The other stars of qualifying were the Penske Porsche team, as Romain Dumas put the Sebring-winning No.7 machine on LMP2 pole and the outside of the overall front row despite the car being heavily damaged in a practice crash.
Dumas hit the wall avoiding a spinning GT2 Porsche in the free practice session that immediately preceded qualifying. But Penske were able to replace the right-rear corner while the GT cars qualified, allowing Dumas to take part in the prototype session and claim class pole.
David Brabham (Highcroft Acura) took third, 0.129 seconds behind Dumas, ahead of Sascha Maassen in the second Penske Porsche, and Marino Franchitti's Dyson Porsche.
Returnee Frank Biela could only manage ninth overall in the second Audi, 1.7 seconds slower than teammate Werner.
Olivier Beretta beat his Corvette teammate Johnny O'Connell by half a second in the GT1 class battle, while in GT2 a mighty effort by Wolf Henzler saw the Flying Lizard Porsche driver end Risi Ferrari's run of poles.
Risi driver Jaime Melo was 0.118 seconds slower in second, ahead of the Farnbacher Loles Porsche.
Pos Class Drivers Car Time 1. P1 Luhr/Werner Audi R10 TDI 1:02.825 2. P2 Bernhard/Dumas Porsche RS Spyder 1:03.578 3. P2 Brabham/Sharp Acura ARX-01b 1:03.707 4. P2 Long/Maassen Porsche RS Spyder 1:03.737 5. P2 Franchitti/Leitzinger Porsche RS Spyder 1:03.827 6. P2 Herta/Fittipaldi Acura ARX-01b 1:03.962 7. P2 Dyson/Smith Porsche RS Spyder 1:04.301 8. P2 Fernandez/Diaz Acura ARX-01b 1:04.541 9. P1 Biela/Pirro Audi R10 TDI 1:04.577 10. P1 Field/Field/Berry Lola B06/10-AER 1:05.274 11. P2 Devlin/Bonilla Lola B07/46-Mazda 1:06.652 12. GT1 Beretta/Gavin Corvette C6.R 1:09.727 13. P2 van der Steur/Pecorari Radical SR9-AER 1:10.200 14. GT1 O'Connell/Magnussen Corvette C6.R 1:10.268 15. GT1 Borcheller/Ducote Aston Martin DBR9 1:11.532 16. GT2 Bergmeister/Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:11.745 17. GT2 Salo/Melo Ferrari F430 GT 1:11.863 18. GT2 Werner/Basseng Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:12.581 19. GT2 Farnbacher/Muller/Bell Ferrari F430 GT 1:12.752 20. GT2 van Overbeek/Pilet Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:13.030 21. GT2 Law/Neiman Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:13.190 22. GT2 Brix/Friesacher Ferrari F430 GT 1:13.611 23. GT2 Jeannette/Mowlem Ferrari F430 GT 1:13.616 24. GT2 Milner/Sutherland Panoz Esperante GTLM 1:14.577 25. GT2 Robertson/Murry Doran Ford GT-R 1:15.124 26. GT2 Gigliotti/Peterson Corvette C6 1:15.201 27. GT2 Feinberg/Hall Dodge Viper Competition 1:15.809 28. GT2 Cocker/Drayson Aston Martin DBRS9 1:18.027 29. GT2 Swartzbaugh/Stanton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR No time
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