First qualifying: Audi, Audi, Audi, Audi…
If there is a battle for the lead at the 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday, it looks like being an exclusively Audi affair after the first timed qualifying session today (Wednesday) saw an Ingolstadt 1-2-3-4 sweep
The works-run R8s took the top two spots, with the Emanuele Pirro/Frank Biela/Tom Kristensen car pipping its sister entry of 'Dindo' Capello/Michele Alboreto/Laurent Aiello by just 0.367s as it scorched round the Florida airfield track in 1m49.110s. It was Audi's 11th straight ALMs pole, but the first for the driver who set the time, Pirro.
"I am really happy," said the Italian. "So far it has been a very good weekend for us. All three of us have done very good lap times. We were fastest in almost every session. We just have to keep on going this way. In terms of speed and car handling I am very confident."
Capello, who set the time in the number one car, said: ""The car was good, but I did not know how much I could push on new tyres because I could not try this before. When I felt I could push more, it was already too late, because with temperatures like this you have to give 100 percent at the first lap. There is no way to improve your time in the second lap."
Third fastest was the Champion Audi of Ralf Kelleners/Dorsey Schroeder/Andy Wallace, less than half a second behind the second works car, with the Stefan Johansson/Guy Smith machine in fourth almost a second further back.
After that, in the battle for best of the rest, the Panoz LMP07 of Jan Magnussen/David Brabham was fifth with a 1m53.461s lap, but comfortably ahead of the Riley & Scott Mk IIIC of James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger/Elliott Forbes-Robinson.
Given the frank and frequent admissions of the Panoz pilots that the latest front-engined roadster is nowhere near its optimum (read satisfactory...) level of reliability, Audi's well-proven R8s look like having the run of the place for half-a-day on Saturday.
Another timed session on Thursday will put the seal on the final grid for Saturday's race.
Biela/Kristensen/Pirro (works Audi R8) 1m49.110s
Aiello/Alboreto/Capello (works Audi R8) 1m49.477s
Kelleners/Schroeder/Wallace (Champion Audi R8) 1m49.973s
Johansson/Smith (Gulf Audi R8) 1m50.949s
Magnussen/Brabham (Panoz Roadster) 1m53.461s
Weaver/Leitzinger/Forbes-Robinson (Riley&Scott) 1m53.852s
Field/Dayton/Sutherland (Lola-Judd) 1m54.872s
Bourdais/Boullion (Courage-Peugeot) 1m55.849s
Fellows/Kneifel/O'Connell (Chevrolet) 2m00.444s
Konrad/Borcheller/Slater (Saleen) 2m00.552s
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