Qualifying: Kristensen pips Pirro

"My first qualifying lap was only second fastest," said Kristensen. "On my previous lap, my second flying lap, I ran into a little bit of traffic - so I decided to slow down and then I went for it, hopeful that the Michelins would give me enough grip to do it on that lap because normally you really have to make it on the second quick lap."

In the race, Kristensen will share his car with Brits Andy Wallace and, if he makes it back from Indy qualifying in time, Johnny Herbert. Pirro shares with Audi stalwarts Frank Biela and Rinaldo Capello.

The quickest non-Audi was the Panoz of David Brabham. The Aussie was 0.7s down on the pole, but almost two seconds quicker than the MG-Lola of Jon Field who claimed fourth place on the grid and the P675 Class pole.

Ron Fellows did a great job with the new Corvette C5-R to take the GTS class pole - and 12th on the grid overall. Scot Marino Franchitti starts 18th in his Porsche GT3.


Johnny Herbert/Andy Wallace/Tom Kristensen Audi R8 P900 1m22.615s
Frank Biela Rinaldo Capello Emanuele Pirro Audi R8 P900 1m22.967s
Jan Magnussen David Brabham Panoz LMP01 P900 1m23.352s
J.Field/R.Sutherland Lola EX257-MG P675 1m25.319s
D.Donohue/G.Jeanette Panoz LMP01 P900 1m27.310s
S.Knight/M.Hawkins/C.Block Lola EX257-MG P675 1m27.830s
D.de Radigues/J.Graham Panoz LMP07 P900 1m27.958s
C.Field/M.Neuhaus Lola B2K/10-Judd P900 1m29.224s
S.Maxwell/M.Duno Panoz LMP07 P900 1m29.244s
J.Weaver/C.Dyson Riley&Scott MkIII-Lincoln LMP900 1m30.130s
R.Fellows/J.O'Connell Corvette C5-R GTS 1m31.582s
K.Buckler/M.Franchitti Porsche 911GT3 RS GT 1m37.742s