Sebring 12 Hours: Vautier takes pole for Spirit of Daytona Cadillac
Cadillac claimed pole position for the Sebring 12 Hours with Tristan Vautier and the Spirit of Daytona team


The former IndyCar driver took the top spot in qualifying ahead of tomorrow's second round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship with a 1m47.432s aboard the team's solo Cadillac DPi-V.R.
That gave the Frenchman a 0.16-second margin over Olivier Pla in the fastest of the Extreme Speed Motorsports Onroak-Nissan DPis, which ended up on 1m47.592s.
Vautier, who claimed GT Daytona pole at Sebring one year ago, said: "This was a bit unexpected because we didn't do so much running in practice after having some problems.
"It was hot, so the tyres came in quickly and then degraded quickly, so you had to do the time early."
Ricky Taylor was a further two tenths behind in third position aboard the fastest of the Penske Racing Acura ARX-05s on a 1m47.773s.
Pipo Derani took fourth in the second ESM with a 1m47.834s.
Felipe Nasr ended up fifth for the Action Express Racing Cadillac team, while Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top six in the second Acura.
Stephen Simpson posted the fastest time in an LMP2 car, ending up on a 1m48.742s to take 11th place aboard his JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA-Gibson 07.

The new BMW M8 GTE claimed pole position in the GT Le Mans class.
Conor De Phillippi's 1m55.839s aboard the #25 Rahal entry put him just six hundredths up on James Calado in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
Jesse Krohn made it two BMWs in the top three after changes to the Balance of Performance, including a 20kg weight break, ahead of the Sebring event.
Richard Westbrook took fourth in the best of the Chip Ganassi Ford GTs.
All but one of the nine GTLM cars qualified within a second of De Phillippi's pole mark.
Daniel Serra made it two poles in two races in the AF Corse-run Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE.
The Brazilian posted a 1m58.710s to end up half a second clear of Christopher Mies in the Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS.
Qualifying result
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | P | M.McMurry, T.Vautier, E.Cheever | Spirit of Daytona Racing | Cadillac | 1m47.432s | - |
2 | P | S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, O.Pla | Tequila Patron ESM | Nissan | 1m47.592s | 0.160s |
3 | P | H.Castroneves, R.Taylor, G.Rahal | Acura Team Penske | Acura | 1m47.773s | 0.341s |
4 | P | J.van Overbeek, P.Derani, N.Lapierre | Tequila Patron ESM | Nissan | 1m47.834s | 0.402s |
5 | P | F.Nasr, E.Curran, M.Conway | Whelen Engineering Racing | Cadillac | 1m47.853s | 0.421s |
6 | P | D.Cameron, J.P.Montoya, S.Pagenaud | Acura Team Penske | Acura | 1m48.177s | 0.745s |
7 | P | O.Jarvis, T.Nunez, R.Rast | Mazda Team Joest | Mazda | 1m48.192s | 0.760s |
8 | P | F.Albuquerque, J.Barbosa, C.Fittipaldi | Mustang Sampling Racing | Cadillac | 1m48.256s | 0.824s |
9 | P | J.Bomarito, H.Tincknell, S.Pigot | Mazda Team Joest | Mazda | 1m48.279s | 0.847s |
10 | P | J.Taylor, R.van der Zande, R.H.-Reay | Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R | Cadillac | 1m48.370s | 0.938s |
11 | P | C.Miller, S.Simpson, M.Goikhberg | JDC-Miller Motorsports | ORECA/Gibson | 1m48.742s | 1.310s |
12 | P | J.French, K.Masson, P.O'Ward | Performance Tech Motorsports | ORECA/Gibson | 1m49.068s | 1.636s |
13 | P | J.Bennett, C.Braun, R.Dumas | CORE Autosport | ORECA/Gibson | 1m49.158s | 1.726s |
14 | P | S.Trummer, R.Alon, N.Panciatici | JDC-Miller Motorsports | ORECA/Gibson | 1m49.329s | 1.897s |
15 | P | S.Saavedra, G.Yacaman, R.Gonzalez | AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports | Ligier/Gibson | 1m49.423s | 1.991s |
16 | P | P.Hanson, A.Brundle, P.Di Resta | United Autosports | Ligier/Gibson | 1m49.488s | 2.056s |
17 | GTLM | A.Sims, C.De Phillippi, B.Auberlen | BMW Team RLL | BMW | 1m55.839s | 8.407s |
18 | GTLM | T.Vilander, J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | Risi Competizione | Ferrari | 1m55.897s | 8.465s |
19 | GTLM | J.Krohn, J.M.Edwards, N.Catsburg | BMW Team RLL | BMW | 1m55.985s | 8.553s |
20 | GTLM | R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Dixon | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ford | 1m56.098s | 8.666s |
21 | GTLM | J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ford | 1m56.191s | 8.759s |
22 | GTLM | L.Vanthoor, E.Bamber, G.Bruni | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m56.251s | 8.819s |
23 | GTLM | J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, M.Rockenfeller | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 1m56.588s | 9.156s |
24 | GTLM | P.Pilet, N.Tandy, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m56.626s | 9.194s |
25 | GTLM | O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 1m56.900s | 9.468s |
26 | GTD | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda, D.Serra | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 1m58.710s | 11.278s |
27 | GTD | S.van der Linde, C.Mies, A.Picariello | Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | Audi | 1m59.229s | 11.797s |
28 | GTD | J.Hawksworth, D.H.Hansson, S.Rayhall | 3GT Racing | Lexus | 1m59.251s | 11.819s |
29 | GTD | D.Baumann, K.Marcelli, P.Frommenwiler | 3GT Racing | Lexus | 1m59.476s | 12.044s |
30 | GTD | B.Sellers, M.Snow, C.Lewis | Paul Miller Racing | Lamborghini | 1m59.489s | 12.057s |
31 | GTD | C.MacNeil, A.Balzan, G.Jeannette | Scuderia Corsa | Ferrari | 1m59.609s | 12.177s |
32 | GTD | K.Habul, T.Jager, M.Grenier | SunEnergy1 Racing | Mercedes | 1m59.952s | 12.520s |
33 | GTD | C.Gilsinger, R.Eversley, T.Dyer | HART | Acura | 2m00.069s | 12.637s |
34 | GTD | B.Sweedler, T.Bell, F.Montecalvo | Scuderia Corsa | Ferrari | 2m00.080s | 12.648s |
35 | GTD | K.Legge, A.Parente, T.Hindman | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Acura | 2m00.198s | 12.766s |
36 | GTD | P.Long, C.Nielsen, R.Renauer, M.Jaminet | Wright Motorsports | Porsche | 2m00.378s | 12.946s |
37 | GTD | M.Miller, T.Bechtolsheimer, K.Wittmer | CJ Wilson Racing | Acura | 2m00.686s | 13.254s |
38 | GTD | K.Koch, L.Spinelli, J.Perez | P1 Motorsports | Mercedes | 2m00.717s | 13.285s |
39 | GTD | B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, L.Stolz | Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports | Mercedes | 2m00.743s | 13.311s |
40 | GTD | J.Potter, A.Lally, A.Davis | Magnus Racing | Audi | 2m02.151s | 14.719s |
41 | GTD | D.Yount, D.Machavern, M.Palttala | Turner Motorsport | BMW | 2m03.227s | 15.795s |
42 | GTD | P.Lindsey, J.Bergmeister, T.Pappas | Park Place Motorsports | Porsche | 2m04.650s | 17.218s |
- | GTD | J.Marks, L.Aschenbach, M.Farnbacher | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Acura | - | - |

Sebring 12 Hours: Penske on top during opening practice sessions
Sebring 12 Hours: #22 ESM Nissan leads at halfway mark

Latest news
The British pair at the heart of Lexus's IMSA push
Have you heard the one about two northerners driving for a Japanese manufacturer in America’s top sportscar series? Time to sit down and talk with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat about racing across the pond… and your accent being mistaken for Australian
Why Peugeot couldn't afford to take a Le Mans gamble in 2022
Ahead of the much-anticipated arrival of its new 9X8 Hypercar, Peugeot revealed that it would not be entering this year's Le Mans 24 Hours with its incoming machinery. Although development restrictions for homologated cars are partially responsible, the French marque can draw on its own lessons from its history in sportscars
Why two names for the same thing could cloud sportscar racing's new golden era
OPINION: The adoption by IMSA of the GTP name for its forthcoming LMDh versus Le Mans Hypercar era in 2023 appeals to fans of nostalgia - but it undermines the commonality achieved by bringing its rulebook into line with the World Endurance Championship. GTP or Hypercar, both sides should settle on a single name
Celebrating the weird and wonderful monsters of sportscar racing
Few disciplines of motorsport offer better possibilities to build a colossus of the track than sportscars. For Autosport's recent Monsters of Motorsport special issue, we picked out some of the finest (and not so fine) that have graced sportscar classics including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring
How Castroneves and Meyer Shank conquered another US classic
Helio Castroneves continued his fine start to life with Meyer Shank Racing that netted the 2021 Indianapolis 500 victory by prevailing in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours together with team-mates Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Simon Pagenaud. As Cadillac fell by the wayside, the Brazilian veteran won out in an all-Acura duel to the finish
The British sportscar aces readying for a new golden era in IMSA
With the arrival of LMDh looming in 2023, top sportscar drivers are flocking to IMSA for the last hurrah of the DPi cars, starting with this weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours. Seven of the championship's leading British aces explain its appeal and share their hopes of winning a sought-after new watch...
How Derani's long road to title success exorcised painful memories
It took Pipo Derani no time at all to establish himself as a winner in IMSA, winning the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours on his first two starts in 2016. But it took until the final corner of the 2021 season before he could become its champion, the culmination of a journey that he believes has made him a better driver
How the next step in the IMSA and WEC convergence can reunite multiple fronts
OPINION: Following the latest convergence connection permitting Le Mans Hypercars from the World Endurance Championship to compete against LMDh entries in the IMSA SportsCar Championship from 2023, it could open up enticing options not only to manufacturers but also for the calendar and race formats