Derani Leads All-Cadillac Front Row For Sebring 12 Hours
Action Express Racing has won the pole for the 71st annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. Three-time Sebring winner Pipo Derani put the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac on pole position, leading a front-row lockout by the newly-rechristened Cadillac V-Series.Rs.
Early on in the 20-minute GTP qualifying session, the Acura ARX-06es set the benchmark. Ricky Taylor sat atop the timesheets with a 1’46.100 aboard his #10 Konica Minolta Acura – by far the fastest time of the weekend thus far. Tom Blomqvist wasn’t far behind in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura in second.
Both Cadillac teams, Action Express Racing and the Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac Racing team saved a set of tyres for the race tomorrow and didn’t really turn it up until the second half of the session – but immediately, Derani began to show his ultimate pace. With eight minutes remaining, Derani put the red #31 Cadillac on the provisional pole with a time of 1’45.836.
Sebastien Bourdais, a two-time overall winner around Sebring, wasn’t far behind as he rocketed up to second with a 1’45.923 – just 0.087 seconds adrift.
Matt Campbell in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 was eager to get up towards the front of the field. Trying to improve, the Australian flicked his red and white Porsche through turn one – but clipped the inside wall with his left-rear wheel. That pitched him into a spin that he could not save, and he crashed tail-first into the tyre barriers.
The red flag waved with 15 minutes elapsed. Since all cars had run their guaranteed ten minutes of green flag time per IMSA sporting regulations, GTD qualifying ended with the two Cadillacs occupying first and second place, headed by the #31 AXR Cadillac of Derani, Alexander Sims, and Jack Aitken.
It’s Derani’s eighth career IMSA pole position, his second at Sebring in the last three years, and the first for the V-Series.R (formerly V-LMDh). Cadillac have won the last three editions of the 12 Hours of Sebring and are going for their fourth in a row tomorrow, starting at 10:10 AM EDT.
Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, and Scott Dixon will start second in the #01 Cadillac Racing entry. Chip Ganassi Racing’s team won last year with a different driver line-up.
Ricky Taylor’s best lap from early in qualifying was good enough for third alongside teammates Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz in the #10 Konica Minolta Acura. They suffered no recurrence of the electrical gremlins that plagued them yesterday in Practice, but will they hold up over 12 gruelling hours of racing?
Mathieu Jaminet qualified fourth-fastest in the #6 Porsche, just ahead of Blomqvist in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura in fifth.
The #24 BMW M Team RLL Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus qualified sixth, within a second of the top time. Campbell was seventh even after the deletion of his two fastest laps for causing a red flag, and the #25 BMW of Connor de Philippi was eighth.
Corvette Racing and Racers Edge Motorsports/WTR sweep up GTD pole positions
Antonio Garcia won the GTD Pro class pole position aboard the #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD in a combined GTD qualifying session that ended prematurely after a red flag – and an incident that looked very similar to the one that would befall Campbell later on, also at the expense of a Porsche.
Klaus Bachler in the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R was about to start a hot lap with five minutes left to run. But he ran wide through the middle of turn one, and his red plaid car pitched into a spin and hit the tyre barriers. Bachler walked away from the accident unhurt, but the #9 Pfaff Porsche of Bachler, Patrick Pilet, and Laurens Vanthoor faces 24 hours of repair work in order to get ready for the race.
Before the red flag ended GTD qualifying, Jack Hawksworth in the #14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3 became the first GT driver to break the sub-2 minute barrier when he took the provisional pole with a 1’59.826. Garcia responded with a 1’59.734, and then Hawksworth re-took the top spot with a 1’59.582.
Just before Bachler’s accident brought out the red flag and ended this first phase of qualifying, Garcia took first place back with his best lap of 1’59.315.
That was enough for Garcia to nab his 13th career IMSA pole position, and give himself and co-drivers Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner the number one starting spot on the GTD combined grid as they bid to win back-to-back Sebring 12 Hours in GTD Pro.
Hawksworth’s time stood as second-best, giving him and co-drivers Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood the outside of the front row.
Daniel Juncadella qualified third in GTD Pro for reigning Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona winners WeatherTech Racing, setting a 1’49.635 in the #79 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Alex Riberas was fourth in the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, and Daniel Serra was fifth in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.
On the GTD ‘Pro-Am’ side, the action began with the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes of Mikael Grenier and the #12 VasserSullivan Lexus of Aaron Telitz setting identical times of 1’59.944! Grenier set his best lap and took the provisional pole.
Philip Ellis then went quickest aboard the black and blue #57 Winward Racing Mercedes, setting a 1’59.834. Then, seconds later, the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 of Kyle Marcelli entered the picture. Marcelli took the provisional GTD pole for himself with a 1’59.714 – and the red flag came out just after.
That was enough for the #93 Acura of Marcelli, Ashton Harrison, and Daniel Formal to win the GTD pole, their first of the season – on the anniversary of the Racers Edge Acura NSX’s first foray into IMSA competition.
Ellis’ time was second-best in GTD and fifth-best among both GTD classes, Winward Racing ahead of the GTD Pro #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes.
Grenier would have held third in GTD but he got out of his car before the chequered flag, resulting in the loss of all of his lap times! That gave third in GTD to Telitz in the end. The #16 Wright Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen was fourth-fastest, a great outcome for gentleman driver Ryan Hardwick and his team after an aborted start to his new WEC programme. The #023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari of Alessio Rovera rounded out the GTD top five.
Just eight-tenths covered those top ten cars in both GTD classes.
Keating wins another LMP2 pole; Van Berlo breaks LMP3 course record in Andretti Ligier
Last night, Ben Keating narrowly missed out on a GTE Am pole position for today’s WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring. He responded by winning the LMP2 pole for the 1000 Miles of Sebring.
Keating, who is going for his third straight LMP2 class win in the 12 Hours of Sebring, put the Wynn’s-coloured #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 on the pole – his second pole position of the season.
He set his best lap of 1’51.780 with less than three minutes to go in the session for the Pro-Am prototype classes, LMP2 and LMP3.
That was enough to knock François Heriau in the #35 TDS Racing Oreca off the top spot in LMP2. TDS Racing qualified second and third in class, thanks to a late charge from Steven Thomas in the #11 Oreca, to qualify in third. Thomas is accompanied by Scott Huffaker and Mikkel Jensen, who won the last two races with Keating at PR1/Mathiasen.
21-year-old Glenn van Berlo, a new recruit to Andretti Autosport’s LMP3 programme, broke the class lap record and took the pole aboard the #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320.
Van Berlo, who ran Daytona with Riley Motorsports, jumped to the top of the timesheets halfway into the session. He set a 1’55.617 on his first flying lap, which was already four-tenths up on Rasmus Lindh’s previous course record set two years ago! He then gained another four-tenths and improved to 1’55.215, more than enough for his first pole position.
Tonis Kasemets was second-fastest aboard the #4 Ave Motorsports Ligier, making its season debut. And Dan Goldburg was third in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Duquiene D08, the best of the Duquiene fleet in the session.
There was also a scary moment in the closing minutes when the #20 High Class Racing Oreca of Dennis Andersen spun at the Hairpin (turn seven). The #74 Riley Ligier of Gar Robinson spun out at the same corner in avoidance and continued after narrowly escaping a collision.
Andersen tried to get going again and eventually he was able to reverse and pull away, but directly into the path of the #17 AWA Duquiene of Anthony Mantella, who came as close to a nasty collision as one could without actually having one. Andersen was given a nominal 60-second penalty stop for an unsafe rejoin.
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