Daytona 24 Hours: Michael Shank Racing Ligier claims pole

The Brazilian took the top spot aboard his Honda-engined Ligier JSP2 with a best lap of 1m39.194s, which put him just over a tenth of a second clear of Scott Dixon's 1m39.302s in the fastest of the two Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford EcoBoost DP.

Negri, who also set pole with MSR at Daytona in 2008, said: "I knew the DPs would get close in the cooler temperature, but I promise you that I took everything that the car had.

"Michael [Shank] was asking me for two tenths or three tenths, and I thought, 'man! I had a few moments at the Bus Stop'."

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Scott Pruett was third fastest in the second Ganassi Riley with a time just seven hundredths behind his team-mate.

Fourth place went to 2014 Daytona winner Action Express Racing, whose lead Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP ended up on a 1m39.568s in the hands of Joao Barbosa.

The DeltaWing-Elan/Mazda DWC ended up fifth with Andy Meyrick driving, while Olivier Pla was sixth in Krohn Racing's Ligier-Judd/BMW.

Ricky Taylor, in seventh position aboard the Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP, was the last car to qualify within a second of the pole.

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GT Le Mans honours went to Oliver Gavin in the best of the Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs ahead of Gianmaria Bruni's AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia.

Team-mate Jan Magnussen towed Gavin around to a 1m43.488s, which put him nearly four tenths clear of Bruni on a 1m43.830s.

Gavin, who had just claimed his first USC pole, said: "I didn't think we had the overall pace to get pole, but everything fell into place with the tyre pressures and temperatures.

"Jan gave me the perfect tow when everything was at its peak."

Pedro Lamy ended up third fastest in the the solo factory Aston Martin Vantage GTE with a time of 1m43.960s.

John Edwards was fourth fastest in the best of the Rahal BMW Z4 GTEs, while Magnussen was fifth despite a tow from Gavin over the second half of the session.

The two factory Porsche 911 RSRs run by CORE Autosport, which had topped times at the pre-event test earlier in the month, ended up only eighth and 10th in the hands of Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki, with Bryan Sellers sandwiched between them in the Falken Tire Porsche.

Johnny Mowlem came out on top in a fierce qualifying battle with Colin Braun to snatch pole for the Prototype Challenge class aboard his BAR1 Motorsports ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09.

His final lap of 1m43.318s eclipsed the CORE Autosport driver's best of 1m42.498s.

James Davison claimed his fifth straight USC pole position in the GT Daytona class aboard the lead Aston Martin V12 Vantage run by The Racers Group.

The Australian did only one flying lap because he was waiting in the pits when the red flag came out, but he was able to eclipse Jeroen Bleekemolen's best in his Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R by less than two tenths of a second.

QUALIFYING TIMES: