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De Ferran takes Lexington pole

Gil de Ferran took his new team's first pole position in only their third American Le Mans Series event by winning a huge battle in Mid-Ohio qualifying

The Brazilian Acura driver beat Lime Rock winner David Brabham (Highcroft Acura) to the top spot by 0.224 seconds at the end of a frenetic session that had seen provisional pole change hands countless times between the de Ferran, Highcroft and Andretti Green Acuras, and Marco Werner's Audi.

De Ferran's 1:07.969 lap was a few fractions quicker than the best IndyCar time of the day, and was his third pole at Lexington after twice heading the grid at the track during his Champ Car career.

Behind outside front row starter Brabham, Timo Bernhard took third for Penske Porsche alongside AGR's Franck Montagny, who will share his car with the team's Indy Lights driver Raphael Matos this weekend.

LMP1 pole-winner Werner ended up fifth overall after being quickest on several occasions, with Fernandez driver Luis Diaz making it four Acuras in the top six.

The second Audi had to sit out half of the session as a punishment for Dindo Capello's collision with the Bell Aston Martin at Lime Rock last weekend. The Italian took seventh once allowed to join the fray.

Penske Porsche's Sascha Maassen and Dyson Porsche's Chris Dyson had to serve five minute penalties for tangles in morning practice and the Lime Rock race respectively, before taking eighth and ninth. The Dyson team have had to build up an entirely new chassis in the past week after their destructive Lime Rock weekend, and their cars will share the fifth row.

A superb effort from Jaime Melo got GT2 champions Risi Ferrari onto class pole for the first time this year. Initially the top four in class had been covered by a mere 0.125 seconds, and when Melo went off on his out-lap while attempting his second qualifying run, it looked like the Risi car would have to settle for second.

But the Brazilian returned for one last shot at pole and duly beat provisional pole-sitter Dirk Werner (Farnbaches Loles Porsche) by 0.174 seconds.

Flying Lizard Porsche's Wolf Henzler and Tafel Ferrari driver Dominik Farnbacher took third and fourth in class.

In GT1 it was Johnny O'Connell's turn to lead the Corvette duo, as the American beat teammate Olivier Beretta by 0.429 seconds.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                        Make                     Time
 1.  P2   de Ferran/Pagenaud             Acura ARX-01B            1:07.969
 2.  P2   Brabham/Sharp                  Acura ARX-01B            1:08.193
 3.  P2   Dumas/Bernhard                 Porsche RS Spyder        1:08.238
 4.  P2   Matos/Montagny                 Acura ARX-01B            1:08.320
 5.  P1   Luhr/Werner                    Audi R10 TDI             1:08.357
 6.  P2   Fernandez/Diaz                 Acura ARX-01B            1:08.507
 7.  P1   Capello/Pirro                  Audi R10 TDI             1:08.960
 8.  P2   Maassen/Long                   Porsche RS Spyder        1:09.614
 9.  P2   Smith/Dyson                    Porsche RS Spyder        1:09.912
10.  P2   Franchitti/Leitzinger          Porsche RS Spyder        1:10.029
11.  P1   J.Field/C.Field/Berry          Lola B06/10              1:11.053
12.  P1   Lewis/Faulkner                 Lola B06/10              1:11.156
13.  P1   McMurry/Willman                Creation CA07-002        1:16.316
14.  GT1  O'Connell/Magnussen            Chevrolet Corvette C6R   1:17.900
15.  GT1  Beretta/Gavin                  Chevrolet Corvette C6R   1:18.329
16.  GT2  Melo/Salo                      Ferrari 430 Berlinetta   1:20.025
17.  GT2  Werner/Westbrook               Porsche 911 RSR          1:20.199
18.  GT2  Bergmeister/Henzler            Porsche 911 RSR          1:20.226
19.  GT2  Mueller/Farnbacher             Ferrari 430 Berlinetta   1:20.324
20.  GT2  van Overbeek/Pilet             Porsche 911 RSR          1:20.703
21.  GT2  Brix/Friesacher                Ferrari 430 Berlinetta   1:20.844
22.  GT2  Law/Neiman                     Porsche 911 RSR          1:21.072
23.  GT2  Sutherland/Milner              Panoz Esperante          1:22.133
24.  GT2  D.Robertson/A.Robertson/Murry  Doran Ford GT-R          1:23.139
25.  GT2  F.Pastorelli/N.Pastorelli      Porsche 911 RSR          1:23.388
26.  GT2  Lazzaro/Pappas                 Doran Ford GT-R          1:23.729
27.  GT2  Figge/Tafel                    Ferrari F430GT           1:24.047
28.  GT2  Feinberg/Hall                  Dodge Viper              1:24.957
29.  GT2  Drayson/Cocker                 Aston Martin Vantage 
30.  P2   Devlin/Bonilla                 Lola B07 46 Mazda

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