Penske take front row with record

Driving the LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder, Timo Bernhard lapped the Miller Motorsports Park in 2:18.128 - 3.5 seconds faster than the track record set by the Audi R10 a year ago.

"The car is brilliant. I don't have to tell you it was really, really good," said Bernhard, who will start on pole along with co-driver Romain Dumas. The paid are looking for their third straight overall win.

"I was concentrating on the out lap to get it right because I wanted to save the car's peak, and then I needed to get it in the first lap. I saw the time was good and I could bring it in because we need to save the tires for the race."

Second on the grid are Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Sascha Maassen, with the next five spots also taken by LMP2 entrants.

In eighth overall and first in the LMP1 class are the Audi pair of Allan McNish and Dindo Capello. The sister Audi of Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner is ninth overall.

Oliver Gavin took pole in the GT1 class - his 13th career pole - as Corvette Racing elected to run their Le Mans aerodynamics package in preparations for next month's 24 hours race.

"We ran that toward the end of practice (on Thursday)," said Gavin. "We're ironing out some issues we've had with the tyres and trying to get everything sorted out.

"The track has good flow to it, and it has some corners that you can relate to Le Mans. But just because it's a couple of weeks before we go over, it's an ideal time."

In the GT2, Tomas Enge made a return to action after his crash last month at St Petersburg with a class pole.

The Czech driver, who suffered a shattered left elbow, broken ribs and punctured lung and other injuries in the crash, set a class record in the Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing's Ferrari F430 GT.

"I couldn't believe I could do this time... because it was a petty good one," said Enge, who partners Darren Turner.

"I have to thank Mike Petersen for giving me the chance to drive this car again and everyone at the team for making this car so good.

"(The injuries) are still painful and I still have problems correcting the car when we have problems.

"When you try to drive on the limit and can't use your left hand, your right hand has to work twice as hard. But the car is working so good."

Pos  Cl   Drivers                    Car                       Time
 1.  P2   Dumas/Bernhard             Porsche RS Spyder         2:18.128
 2.  P2   Briscoe/Maassen            Porsche RS Spyder         2:18.808
 3.  P2   Diaz/Fernandez             Lola/B06-43/Acura         2:19.443
 4.  P2   Dyson/Smith                Porsche RS Spyder         2:20.097
 5.  P2   Brabham/Dayton/Johansson   Acura/ARX-01a             2:20.389
 6.  P2   Franchitti/Herta           Acura/ARX-01a             2:20.648
 7.  P2   Wallace/Leitzinger         Porsche RS Spyder         2:20.720
 8.  P1   McNish/Capello             Audi AG/R10/TDI           2:21.043
 9.  P1   Werner/Pirro               Audi AG/R10/TDI           2:21.450
10.  P2   Bach/Devlin                Lola/B07-40/Mazda         2:24.923
11.  P1   Field/Berry/Field          Creation/CA06H/Judd       2:29.573
12.  P1   Lewis/Willman              Creation CA06H-Judd       2:35.174
13.  GT1  Beretta/Gavin              Corvette C6.R             2:35.697
14.  GT1  O`Connell/Magnussen        Corvette C6.R             2:38.689
15.  GT2  Turner/Enge                Ferrari 430GT             2:43.226
16.  GT2  Melo/Salo                  Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta  2:43.541
17.  GT2  van Overbeek/Bergmeister   Porsche 911 GT3 RSR       2:44.162
18.  GT2  Kelleners/Milner           Porsche 911 GT3 RSR       2:45.382
19.  GT2  Liddell/Henzler            Porsche 911 GT3 RSR       2:45.635
20.  GT2  Aguas/Mediani/Pruitt       Ferrari 430 GT            2:45.896
21.  GT2  Pechnik/Neiman             Porsche 911 GT3 RSR       2:46.249
22.  GT2  Maxwell/Sellers            Panoz Esperante GTLM      2:46.763
23.  GT2  Jonsson/Helary             Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta  2:46.769
24.  GT2  Farnbacher/Tafel           Porsche 911 GT3 RSR       2:47.091
25.  GT2  Pappas/Borcheller          Porsche 911 GT3 RSR       2:47.825
26.  GT2  Hand/Auberlen              Panoz Esperante GTLM      2:47.952