Bernard brakes record to take pole

Bernard's time of 1:15.974 lopped more than half a second from the provisional pole time, set on Friday by BMW's JJ Lehto.

'I'm very pleased,' said Bernard. 'We have had a number of problems this weekend, and it's good that we have managed to close the gap to BMW.

'This is a technical track and it's only the third time I've raced here.'

The Bernard/David Brabham Panoz will be joined on the front row of the grid by its sister car droven by Jan Magnussen, Johnny O'Connell and Klaus Graf.

O'Connell set a time of 1:16.304 to cement the position in Saturday's second qualifying session. BMW endured a frustrating second session, after dominating proceedings on Friday.

The Lehto/Steve Soper V12 LMR will start from third position after Lehto set a time of 1:16.372.

The pair will be joined on the second row of the grid by the sister LMR driven by Bill Auberlen and Jo Winkelhock. Auberlen set a time of 1:17.067.

The DAMS Lola-Judd driven by Franck Montagny, Jean-Marc Gounon and Christophe Tinseau will start the race in fifth with a best of 1:17.114 from Gounon.

The GTS class pole yet again fell to the Dodge Viper driven by Olivier Beretta and David Donohue, who scorched to 1:24.606.

The fastest qualifier in the GT class was no surprise either. Dirk Muller urged the car he shares with Cort Wagner to a time of 1:28.203.

It was the only pole time to stand from Friday's session.

The Laguna Seca round of the ALMS will start at 1200 Pacific time tomorrow (Sunday).