Cadillac break into top ten

Team manager Jeff Kettman said: "The objective was to get the cars into the top ten in qualifying.

"We fell a bit short but were able to maintain 10th place with the number 9 car.

"If all goes well during the race, we stand a chance to walk away with a podium finish."

Franck Lagorce, who qualified the car for tomorrow's Sebring 12 hours, professed to be happy with the car, after a routine systems check.

"Now that we know everything's OK we can continue to focus on our race set-up tonight," he claimed.

All three of the new, Riley and Scott built prototypes qualified in succession, with the second works car lining up 11th, and the DAMS run effort finishing the session 12th quickest.

Kettman said the real prize for the year is Le Mans, and that the Cadillac project is still new.

He said: "We need to remember that this is the first year of a three year program and if you look at where Audi was at this race last year, we're in a similar position.

"The Audi wasn't the quickest car during the race, but they ended up with a third place finish."