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Edition

Australia
Qualifying report

Sebring 12h: Jani’s Rebellion Oreca beats Cadillacs to pole

Porsche’s World Endurance champion Neel Jani edged Action Express Racing’s Cadillacs to take pole position for the 65th running of the Twelve Hours of Sebring, as Christian Fittipaldi ran out of fuel on his final flying lap.

#13 Rebellion Racing ORECA 07: Neel Jani, Sébastien Buemi, Nick Heidfeld

#13 Rebellion Racing ORECA 07: Neel Jani, Sébastien Buemi, Nick Heidfeld

Art Fleischmann

#911 Porsche Team North America Porsche 911 RSR: Patrick Pilet, Dirk Werner, Frédéric Makowiecki
#85 JDC/Miller Motorsports ORECA 07: Mikhail Goikhberg, Chris Miller, Stephen Simpson
#90 Visit Florida Racing Multimatic Riley LMP2: Marc Goossens, Renger van der Zande, René Rast
#5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi: Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque
#70 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi: Joel Miller, Tom Long, Marino Franchitti
#22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi: Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Bruno Senna, Brendon Hartley
#15 3GT Racing Lexus RCF GT3: Robert Alon, Jack Hawksworth, Austin Cindric
#68 Ford Performance Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT: Stefan Mücke, Olivier Pla, Billy Johnson
#75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes AMG GT3: Boris Said, Tristan Vautier, Kenny Habul
#20 BAR1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09: Don Yount, Buddy Rice, Daniel Burkett
#13 Rebellion Racing ORECA 07: Neel Jani, Sébastien Buemi, Nick Heidfeld

Prototype

Pipo Derani was apparently the first driver heading for a sub-1min49sec lap but ducked into the pits with a boost issue. He would subsequently lose all times because the team worked on the car in pitlane which, once the qualifying session is underway, is in breach of IMSA regulations.

And so Rebellion Racing’s Neel Jani took up the fight against the track record of 1m51.217. In truth, he blew it out of the water with a 1min48.178sec lap, ahead of Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.Rs of Christian Fittipaldi on 48.273sec, and Dane Cameron on 48.314.

Jose Gutierrez was fourth in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport Ligier, with Brendon Hartley fifth in the #22 ESM Nissan-Ligier and Ricky Taylor a surprisingly subdued sixth in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

Seventh went to the JDC/Miller machine of Stephen Simpson, Jonathan Bomarito led the Mazda charge in eighth – Mazda’s first lap under 1min50sec this weekend – with Renger Van der Zande ninth in Visit Florida Racing’s Riley XXX.

GT Le Mans

Dirk Muller was the man first in the zone in GTLM, clocking a 1min56.175 in the #66 Ford GT, as teammate Stefan Mucke in the #68 car and the Porsche 911 RSRs of Kevin Estre and Dirk Werner tried to shave his advantage.

But it was the #67 Ford piloted by ex-IndyCar ace Ryan Briscoe which was first car into the 1min55sec segment, setting a 1:55.939 and claiming pole by almost a quarter of a second.

Tommy Milner then put in a heroic effort to take third in the #4 Corvette C7.R, just 0.3sec off Briscoe’s best, and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Vette was just a tenth slower, albeit with Estre’s #912 Porsche between them.

Mucke claimed sixth, just ahead of Werner’s Porsche, with Nicky Catsburg and Alexander Sims in eighth and ninth for RLL BMW.  Giancarlo Fisichella’s Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 was tenth and last, 1.5sec off Briscoe’s pole-winning time.

GT Daytona

It was expected to be a close battle, but it wasn’t at all.

Throughout practice, the Audi R8s had appeared to have the edge, with 3GT Racing’s Lexus pairing running them close. However, former Indy Lights and Pro Mazda champion Tristan Vautier’s SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 shattered the GTD lap record by 2.5sec to claim pole by 0.75sec with a 1min59.738sec

Connor De Phillippi landed P2 in the Land-Motorsport Audi, a little under half a second clear of Corey Lewis in the Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan.

Next up were Robert Alon and Scott Pruett in the Lexus RC Fs, with Andrew Davis sixth in the Stevenson Motorsports Audi.

Ben Keating and Cooper MacNeil were seventh and eighth in the Riley Motorsport Mercedes.

Prototype Challenge

Gustavo Yacaman took pole by a desperately close margin of 0.069sec for BAR1 Motorsports, over James French in the Performance Tech Motorsports machine.

Former Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice was well over 2sec down in the second BAR1 entry while Indy Lights driver Garett Grist was fourth in the Starworks Motorsport entry.

Sebring qualifying times

ClaDriverClassChassisTimeGap
1 germany  Nick Heidfeld 
switzerland  Sébastien Buemi 
switzerland  Neel Jani 
P ORECA 1'48.178  
2 brazil  Christian Fittipaldi 
portugal  Filipe Albuquerque 
portugal  Joao Barbosa 
P Cadillac DPi 1'48.273 0.095
3 united_kingdom  Mike Conway 
united_states  Dane Cameron 
united_states  Eric Curran 
P Cadillac DPi 1'48.314 0.136
4 united_kingdom  Tom Kimber-Smith 
mexico  Jose Gutierrez 
united_states  Mike Guasch 
P Ligier 1'49.056 0.878
5 brazil  Bruno Senna 
new_zealand  Brendon Hartley 
united_states  Ed Brown 
united_states  Johannes van Overbeek
P Nissan DPi 1'49.103 0.925
6 united_states  Jordan Taylor 
united_states  Ricky Taylor 
united_kingdom  Alex Lynn 
P Cadillac DPi 1'49.541 1.363
7 canada  Mikhail Goikhberg 
united_states  Chris Miller 
south_africa  Stephen Simpson 
P ORECA 1'49.587 1.409
8 united_states  Spencer Pigot 
united_states  Jonathan Bomarito 
united_states  Tristan Nunez 
P Mazda DPi 1'49.907 1.729
9 germany  René Rast 
belgium  Marc Goossens 
netherlands  Renger van der Zande 
P Multimatic/Riley 1'49.919 1.741
10 united_states  Tom Long 
united_states  Joel Miller 
united_kingdom  Marino Franchitti 
P Mazda DPi 1'50.284 2.106
11 colombia  Gustavo Yacaman 
united_states  Colin Thompson 
united_states  Marc Drumwright 
united_states  Chapman Ducote 
PC ORECA FLM09 1'53.506 5.328
12 united_states  James French 
united_states  Kyle Masson 
united_states  Patricio O'Ward 
PC ORECA FLM09 1'53.575 5.397
13 united_states  Don Yount 
united_states  Buddy Rice 
canada  Daniel Burkett 
PC ORECA FLM09 1'55.846 7.668
14 australia  Ryan Briscoe 
new_zealand  Scott Dixon 
united_kingdom  Richard Westbrook 
GTLM Ford GT 1'55.939 7.761
15 france  Sébastien Bourdais 
united_states  Joey Hand 
germany  Dirk Müller 
GTLM Ford GT 1'56.175 7.997
16 switzerland  Marcel Fassler 
united_kingdom  Oliver Gavin 
united_states  Tommy Milner 
GTLM Corvette C7.R 1'56.252 8.074
17 austria  Richard Lietz 
france  Kevin Estre 
belgium  Laurens Vanthoor 
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 1'56.319 8.141
18 denmark  Jan Magnussen 
spain  Antonio Garcia 
germany  Mike Rockenfeller 
GTLM Corvette C7.R 1'56.368 8.190
19 united_states  Sean Rayhall 
canada  Garett Grist 
united_states  Max Hanratty 
canada  James Dayson 
PC ORECA FLM09 1'56.433 8.255
20 germany  Stefan Mücke 
france  Olivier Pla 
united_states  Billy Johnson 
GTLM Ford GT 1'56.441 8.263
21 france  Patrick Pilet 
france  Frédéric Makowiecki 
germany  Dirk Werner 
GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 1'56.487 8.309
22 united_states  John Edwards 
netherlands  Nicky Catsburg 
germany  Martin Tomczyk 
GTLM BMW M6 GTLM 1'56.617 8.439
23 united_states  Bill Auberlen 
canada  Kuno Wittmer 
united_kingdom  Alexander Sims 
GTLM BMW M6 GTLM 1'56.660 8.482
24 italy  Giancarlo Fisichella 
united_kingdom  James Calado 
finland  Toni Vilander 
GTLM Ferrari 488 GTE 1'57.475 9.297
25 united_states  Boris Said 
australia  Kenny Habul 
france  Tristan Vautier 
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 1'59.738 11.560
26 united_states  Connor de Phillippi 
france  Jules Gounon 
germany  Christopher Mies 
GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 2'00.490 12.312
27 united_states  Brett Sandberg 
united_states  Corey Lewis 
netherlands  Jeroen Mul 
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'00.967 12.789
28 united_states  Austin Cindric 
united_kingdom  Jack Hawksworth 
united_states  Robert Alon 
GTD Lexus RCF GT3 2'00.998 12.820
29 united_states  Scott Pruett 
united_kingdom  Ian James 
united_states  Sage Karam 
GTD Lexus RCF GT3 2'01.158 12.980
30 united_states  Lawson Aschenbach 
united_states  Andrew Davis 
united_states  Matt Bell 
GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 2'01.222 13.044
31 netherlands  Jeroen Bleekemolen 
united_states  Ben Keating 
germany  Mario Farnbacher 
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'01.284 13.106
32 united_states  Cooper MacNeil 
united_states  Gunnar Jeannette 
new_zealand  Shane van Gisbergen 
GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'01.358 13.180
33 italy  Richard Antinucci 
switzerland  Rolf Ineichen 
italy  Mirko Bortolotti 
germany  Christian Engelhart 
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'01.385 13.207
34 italy  Matteo Cressoni 
denmark  Christina Nielsen 
italy  Alessandro Balzan 
GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 2'01.628 13.450
35 united_states  Andy Lally 
united_kingdom  Katherine Legge 
canada  Mark Wilkins 
GTD Acura NSX GT3 2'01.687 13.509
36 denmark  Michael Christensen 
canada  Daniel Morad 
united_states  Spencer Pumpelly 
united_states  Michael de Quesada 
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'01.752 13.574
37 germany  Jörg Bergmeister 
united_states  Patrick Lindsey 
united_states  Matt McMurry 
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'01.966 13.788
38 united_states  Jeff Segal 
brazil  Oswaldo Negri Jr. 
united_states  Tom Dyer 
GTD Acura NSX GT3 2'02.096 13.918
39 united_states  Townsend Bell 
united_states  Frankie Montecalvo 
united_states  Bill Sweedler 
GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 2'02.234 14.056
40 united_states  Justin Marks 
germany  Jens Klingmann 
finland  Jesse Krohn 
GTD BMW M6 GT3 2'02.256 14.078
41 south_africa  Dion von Moltke 
united_states  Bryan Sellers 
united_states  Madison Snow 
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'02.345 14.167
42 france  Emmanuel Collard 
italy  Fabio Babini 
italy  Emanuele Busnelli 
italy  Michele Beretta 
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'03.201 15.023
43 sweden  Niclas Jönsson 
united_states  Jon Bennett 
united_states  Colin Braun 
GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'03.672 15.494
44 united_states  Brandon Gdovic 
united_states  Anthony Massari 
canada  Emmanuel Anassis 
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'04.154 15.976
45 italy  Paolo Ruberti 
united_states  Lawrence DeGeorge 
monaco  Cedric Sbirrazzuoli 
GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'08.469 20.291

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Edition

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