Qualifying: Capello on pole

Capello sat in the pits, permitting the other prototype runners to scrap for a quick time, until the closing minutes of the session when he emerged to put the Audi R8 almost a second clear of team mate Frank Biela.

"I didn't expect the track to be so slippery," he said. "The last hairpin was very bad. I missed the apex there three times."

Andy Wallace put the Champion Audi in third but David Brabham wasn't far behind in the 2000-spec Panoz LMP Roadster S, giving the beleaguered Atlanta-based team some much-needed encouragement.

But Franck Lagorce did well to finish five seconds adrift: he only had second and third gears at his disposal.

Terry Borcheller bagged the GTS pole early in the Saleen S7-R, while the Corvettes spent much of the session trying to get within range of the Ford-powered supercar. Ron Fellows finally set a time within a second of the Saleen shortly before the end. It was Borcheller's first pole in the ALMS.

"I've driven a lot of cars through the years and it's nice to be in such a good one," he said. "The S7-R is a dream to drive."

BMW's controversial fleet of V8-powered M3s have been the talking point of the weekend and a glance at the timesheets will show why: they qualified within a second of the Corvettes and were quicker than the Chevys for much of free practice. Dirk Mueller put in just five laps during qualifying and set a time of 1m33.763s. The quickest non-BMW runner in GT class was Randy Pobst in the McKenna Porsche 911 GT3-R, with a 1m35.303s.

Capello/Kristensen Audi R8 1m21.745s
Biela/Pirro Audi R8 1m22.422s
Wallace/Herbert Audi R8 1m22.962s
Brabham/Magnussen Panoz LMP Roadster S 1m23.110s
Collard/Tinseau Cadillac Northstar 1m23.768s
Angelelli/Taylor Cadillac Northstar 1m23.801s
Field/Sutherland Intersport Lola-Judd 1m25.232s
Lagorce/Graf Panoz LMP Roadster S 1m28.645s
Borcheller/Konrad Saleen S7-R 1m30.924s
Graham/de Radigues/Duno Dick Barbour Racing Reynard-Judd
1m31.271s
Fellows/O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 1m31.704s
Pilgrim/Collins Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 1m33.060s
Mueller/Ekblom BMW M3 GTR 1m33.763s
Auberlen/Jonsson BMW M3 GTR 1m33.910s


Johnny Herbert has confirmed he'll be in the Champion Audi R8 for the rest
of the season. "It's going to be very enjoyable," he said.