Graf and CytoSport take first pole

Although Le Mans winner and Porsche factory driver Romain Dumas is in the CytoSport Porsche this weekend in place of injured owner/driver Greg Pickett, the team entrusted regular driver Graf with qualifying duties - and he did not disappoint.

In the opening minutes he swapped pole with Highcroft HPD driver Pagenaud twice before Dyson found more speed in his family team's Lola-Mazda and nosed ahead of them both.

But Graf dug deep and became the only man to break into the 1m06s in the session as he claimed pole halfway through the session by 0.2 seconds over Dyson. The American pushed on trying to regain the spot before having to settle for second when Johnny Mowlem's Autocon Lola stopped in a dangerous place, prompting a red and eventually a chequered flag.

Behind Pagenaud, Elkhart Lake winner Drayson Racing's pole run came to an end as Jonny Cocker could only manage fourth in the Lola coupe.

Gianmaria Bruni gave Risi Ferrari another GT pole but is set to start at the back as the team was forced to change its driver line-up when Jamie Melo was struck down with a stomach virus. Toni Vilander has been brought in from the sister car to partner Bruni instead - the Finn's team-mate Pierre Kaffer having had a massive crash in practice that damaged their 430 GT beyond immediate repair and sent the German to hospital for precautionary checks. Fortunately he escaped injury.

The Risi demotion will hand pole to the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche driven by Jorg Bergmeister in qualifying. Tommy Milner's Rahal Letterman BMW was next up in the session, followed by the Corvette now shared by Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen. A team shake-up for this weekend has seen Magnussen brought into the #4 entry alongside Gavin while Olivier Beretta moves in the opposite direction to join Johnny O'Connell in the #3.

In the one-make divisions, PR1/Mathiason driver Luis Diaz topped LMPC again, and Orbit's Bryce Miller inflicted a rare GTC qualifying defeat on Jeroen Bleekemolen.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                    Car         Time       Gap
 1.  P    Dumas/Graf                 Porsche     1m06.956s
 2.  P    Dyson/Smith                Lola-Mazda  1m07.142s  + 0.186s
 3.  P    Brabham/Pagenaud           HPD         1m07.228s  + 0.272s
 4.  P    Drayson/Cocker             Lola        1m07.482s  + 0.526s
 5.  P    Mowlem/Burgess             Lola        1m08.117s  + 1.161s
 6.  PC   Gonzalez/Diaz              ORECA       1m11.455s  + 4.499s
 7.  PC   Montecalvo/Zugel           ORECA       1m12.013s  + 5.057s
 8.  PC   Jeannette/Julian           ORECA       1m12.073s  + 5.117s
 9.  PC   Marcelli/Ducote            ORECA       1m12.239s  + 5.283s
10.  PC   Tucker/Bouchut             ORECA       1m12.260s  + 5.304s
11.  GT   Vilander/Bruni             Ferrari     1m17.160s  + 10.204s
12.  GT   Bergmeister/Long           Porsche     1m17.461s  + 10.505s
13.  GT   Auberlen/Milner            BMW         1m17.491s  + 10.535s
14.  GT   Magnussen/Gavin            Corvette    1m17.668s  + 10.712s
15.  GT   Sharp/van Overbeek         Ferrari     1m17.726s  + 10.770s
16.  GT   Beretta/O'Connell          Corvette    1m17.794s  + 10.838s
17.  GT   Muller/Hand                BMW         1m17.841s  + 10.885s
18.  GT   Sellers/Henzler            Porsche     1m18.469s  + 11.513s
19.  GT   Murry/Robertson/Robertson  Doran Ford  1m18.502s  + 11.546s
20.  GT   Gentilozzi/Goossens        Jaguar      1m19.099s  + 12.143s
21.  GT   Brown/Cosmo                Ferrari     1m21.771s  + 14.815s
22.  GT   Law/Neiman                 Porsche     1m21.798s  + 14.842s
23.  PC   Tucker/Wallace             ORECA       1m22.081s  + 15.125s
24.  GTC  Miller/Hines               Porsche     1m22.495s  + 15.539s
25.  GTC  Pappas/Bleekemolen         Porsche     1m22.598s  + 15.642s
26.  GTC  Lewis/Aschenbach           Porsche     1m22.911s  + 15.955s
27.  GTC  Richard/Lally              Porsche     1m23.211s  + 16.255s
28.  GTC  Sweedler/Pagerey           Porsche     1m23.324s  + 16.368s
29.  P    Field/Field                Lola