Highcroft Acura take pole in Detroit
Highcroft driver David Brabham beat De Ferran Motorsports' Simon Pagenaud to pole position for the Detroit round of the American Le Mans Series - just hours after it was announced that the two teams would spearhead Acura's graduation to the LMP1 class next year
Brabham took his second outright pole of the year by 0.177 seconds, having edged ahead of Pagenaud by 0.085 seconds in the middle of the session and then improved his time further with his final lap.
The result was particularly significant on a day when Highcroft's LMP2 title rivals Penske Porsche could only manage sixth on the grid, after class championship leader Timo Bernhard missed the first part of qualifying with a misfire. His teammate Pat Long will line up one place further back.
Dyson Porsche's Guy Smith interrupted what would have been an all-Acura top four by qualifying a superb third, ahead of Adrian Fernandez (Fernandez Racing) and Franck Montagny (Andretti Green Racing).
As expected, the LMP1 Audis struggled to match the LMP2 cars in qualifying trim on this tight circuit. The Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr R10 TDi will start on LMP1 class pole, but was only eighth fastest overall.
The combination of the twisty track and slightly slippery conditions following a pre-session rain shower allowed the GT2 leaders to get amongst the top GT1 cars. Jan Magnussen eventually emerged fastest in his GT1 Corvette, but three GT2 cars will separate him and co-driver Johnny O'Connell from teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta on the grid.
The GT2 battle was extremely close-fought, with class pole changing hands countless times before Wolf Henzler put the Flying Lizard Porsche on top by just 0.037 seconds from Risi Ferrari's Jaime Melo. Dirk Muller took third in the Tafel Ferrari having also briefly held provisional pole.
Pos Cl Qualifying Driver Car Time 1. P2 David Brabham Acura ARX-01b 1:13.483 2. P2 Simon Pagenaud Acura ARX-01B 1:13.660 + 0.177 3. P2 Guy Smith Porsche RS Spyder 1:14.209 + 0.726 4. P2 Adrian Fernandez Acura ARX-01b 1:14.380 + 0.897 5. P2 Franck Montagny Acura ARX-01b 1:14.446 + 0.963 6. P2 Timo Bernhard Porsche RS Spyder 1:14.598 + 1.115 7. P2 Patrick Long Porsche RS Spyder 1:15.476 + 1.993 8. P1 Marco Werner Audi R10 TDI 1:15.879 + 2.396 9. P1 Marcel Fassler Audi R10 TDI 1:15.923 + 2.440 10. P2 Marino Franchitti Porsche RS Spyder 1:16.554 + 3.071 11. P2 Ben Devlin Mazda Lola B07-46 1:16.742 + 3.259 12. P1 Clint Field Lola B06/10 AER 1:23.307 + 9.824 13. GT1 Jan Magnussen Corvette C6.R 1:24.477 + 10.994 14. GT2 Wolf Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:24.941 + 11.458 15. GT2 Jaime Melo Ferrari 430 GT 1:24.978 + 11.495 16. GT2 Dirk Mueller Ferrari 430 GT 1:25.270 + 11.787 17. GT1 Oliver Gavin Corvette C6.R 1:25.501 + 12.018 18. GT2 Patrick Pilet Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:25.770 + 12.287 19. GT2 Robert Bell Ferrari 430 GT 1:26.627 + 13.144 20. GT1 Terry Borcheller Aston Martin DBR9 1:26.676 + 13.193 21. GT2 Tom Milner Panoz Esperante 1:27.232 + 13.749 22. GT2 Martin Ragginger Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:27.444 + 13.961 23. GT2 Jonny Cocker Aston Martin Vantage 1:27.961 + 14.478 24. GT2 Marc Basseng Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 1:28.075 + 14.592 25. GT2 Anthony Lazzaro Doran Ford GT-R 1:29.391 + 15.908 26. GT2 Jim Tafel Ferrari 430 GT 1:30.694 + 17.211 27. GT2 David Murry Doran Ford GT-R 1:31.013 + 17.530
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