Sebring 12 Hours: Vautier, De Phillippi, Serra take pole positions
Qualifying lap records fell in all three classes at Sebring Raceway, with Tristan Vautier clocking top time in the Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Polesitter Tristan Vautier, Spirit of Daytona Racing
Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Prototype
Vautier lapped the 3.74-mile 17-turn course in 1min47.432sec – a new lap record for the class and 0.16sec faster than Olivier Pla’s #2 ESM Nissan.
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 tires came in quickly and then degraded quickly, so you had to do the time early."
Ricky Taylor spun the #7 Penske-Acura but recovered to set a 1min47.773sec and grab third place ahead of the second Nissan of Pipo Derani.
Felipe Nasr was fastest of the Action Express Cadillacs in fifth ahead of the second Penske-Acura driven by Juan Pablo Montoya.
Rene Rast was the faster of the two Mazda RT24-Ps, 0.76 off top spot but ahead of Filipe Albuquerque in the #5 AXR Caddy, Jonathan Bomarito in the #55 Mazda and Renger van der Zande in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
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 07.
Sebastian Saavedra looped the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport Ligier around but did enough to edge the similar car of United Autosports, driven by ex-F1 driver Paul di Resta, down to 16th.
GT Le Mans
Connor De Phillippi put the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-run BMW M8 on pole by a mere 0.058sec ahead of James Calado in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488, thereby scoring the new-for-2018 car’s first pole.
De Phillippi did the job with on his first flying lap, as did teammate Jesse Krohn who will grid the #24 M8 in third, with a time just 0.146 off his teammate.
Richard Westbrook edged teammate Joey Hand to take fourth in the #67 Ford GT, while Laurens Vanthoor will roll off sixth in the Porsche 911 RSR, 0.412sec from the front.
The Corvette C7.Rs will line up seventh and ninth, sandwiching the second Porsche of Nick Tandy, with the nine-car field covered by 1.061sec. Tommy Milner’s best in the #4 Corvette was just 1.8sec faster than the top GTD time.
GT Daytona
Daniel Serra set a sensational pole for GT Daytona, with a 1min58.710sec lap in his AF Corse-run Spirit of Race Ferrari 488. That was not only more than half a second quicker than his nearest rival, Christopher Mies in the Land Motorsport Audi R8, but a second under the GTD lap record from last year.
Third and fourth were the 3GT Lexus RC Fs of Jack Hawksworth and Dominik Baumann, with Paul Miller Racing’s Lamborghini Hurcan fifth, piloted by Madison Snow.
Early pacesetter Gunnar Jeannette pitted after just four laps in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 and wound up sixth, while Thomas Jaeger ws seventh in the SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG GT, while the HART team usurped Michael Shank Racing as the top Acura NSX runners, although Tom Dyer was 1.3sec off the ultimate pace.
Additional reporting by Gary Watkins
Qualifying results:
Pos. | No. | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 90 | Matt McMurry Tristan Vautier Eddie Cheever III |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'47.432 | |
2 | 2 | Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel Olivier Pla |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'47.592 | 0.160 |
3 | 7 | Helio Castroneves Graham Rahal Ricky Taylor |
P | Acura DPi | 1'47.773 | 0.341 |
4 | 22 | Pipo Derani Johannes van Overbeek Nicolas Lapierre |
P | Nissan DPi | 1'47.834 | 0.402 |
5 | 31 | Mike Conway Eric Curran Felipe Nasr |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'47.853 | 0.421 |
6 | 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya Simon Pagenaud Dane Cameron |
P | Acura DPi | 1'48.177 | 0.745 |
7 | 77 | Oliver Jarvis René Rast Tristan Nunez |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'48.192 | 0.760 |
8 | 5 | Christian Fittipaldi Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'48.256 | 0.824 |
9 | 55 | Harry Tincknell Spencer Pigot Jonathan Bomarito |
P | Mazda DPi | 1'48.279 | 0.847 |
10 | 10 | Jordan Taylor Ryan Hunter-Reay Renger van der Zande |
P | Cadillac DPi | 1'48.370 | 0.938 |
11 | 99 | Mikhail Goikhberg Chris Miller Stephen Simpson |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'48.742 | 1.310 |
12 | 38 | James French Kyle Masson Patricio O'Ward |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'49.068 | 1.636 |
13 | 54 | Romain Dumas Jon Bennett Colin Braun |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'49.158 | 1.726 |
14 | 85 | Simon Trummer Nelson Panciatici Robert Alon |
P | ORECA LMP2 | 1'49.329 | 1.897 |
15 | 52 | Gustavo Yacaman Roberto Gonzalez Sebastian Saavedra |
P | Ligier LMP2 | 1'49.423 | 1.991 |
16 | 32 | Paul di Resta Alex Brundle Phil Hanson |
P | Ligier LMP2 | 1'49.488 | 2.056 |
17 | 25 | Bill Auberlen Connor de Phillippi Alexander Sims |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTLM | 1'55.839 | 8.407 |
18 | 62 | James Calado Toni Vilander Alessandro Pier Guidi |
GTLM | Ferrari 488 GTE | 1'55.897 | 8.465 |
19 | 24 | John Edwards Jesse Krohn Nick Catsburg |
GTLM | BMW M8 GTLM | 1'55.985 | 8.553 |
20 | 67 | Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Richard Westbrook |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'56.098 | 8.666 |
21 | 66 | Sébastien Bourdais Joey Hand Dirk Müller |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'56.191 | 8.759 |
22 | 912 | Gianmaria Bruni Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'56.251 | 8.819 |
23 | 3 | Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'56.588 | 9.156 |
24 | 911 | Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet Frédéric Makowiecki |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'56.626 | 9.194 |
25 | 4 | Marcel Fassler Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'56.900 | 9.468 |
26 | 51 | Pedro Lamy Paul Dalla Lana Mathias Lauda Daniel Serra |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'58.710 | 11.278 |
27 | 29 | Alessio Picariello Christopher Mies Sheldon Van Der Linde |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 1'59.229 | 11.797 |
28 | 15 | David Heinemeier Hansson Jack Hawksworth Sean Rayhall |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'59.251 | 11.819 |
29 | 14 | Kyle Marcelli Dominik Baumann Philipp Frommenwiler |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1'59.476 | 12.044 |
30 | 48 | Corey Lewis Bryan Sellers Madison Snow |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'59.489 | 12.057 |
31 | 63 | Cooper MacNeil Gunnar Jeannette Alessandro Balzan |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'59.609 | 12.177 |
32 | 75 | Kenny Habul Thomas Jäger Mikael Grenier |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'59.952 | 12.520 |
33 | 69 | Ryan Eversley Tom Dyer Chad Gilsinger |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'00.069 | 12.637 |
34 | 64 | Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Bill Sweedler |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 2'00.080 | 12.648 |
35 | 86 | Alvaro Parente Katherine Legge Trent Hindman |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'00.198 | 12.766 |
36 | 58 | Patrick Long Christina Nielsen Robert Renauer Mathieu Jaminet |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2'00.378 | 12.946 |
37 | 36 | Marc Miller Kuno Wittmer Till Bechtolsheimer |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'00.686 | 13.254 |
38 | 71 | Kenton Koch Loris Spinelli JC Perez |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'00.717 | 13.285 |
39 | 33 | Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Luca Stolz |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'00.743 | 13.311 |
40 | 44 | Andy Lally Andrew Davis John Potter |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 2'02.151 | 14.719 |
41 | 96 | Don Yount Markus Palttala Dillon Machavern |
GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | 2'03.227 | 15.795 |
42 | 73 | Jörg Bergmeister Tim Pappas Patrick Lindsey |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2'04.650 | 17.218 |
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