Qualifying report

IMSA Sebring

Sebring 12 Hours: Cameron grabs pole for Acura Team Penske

Dane Cameron took only two laps to lay down an unbeatable lap in the #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 to snatch pole for the 2019 Sebring 12 Hours, as Porsche scored a 1-2 in GT Le Mans.

David Malsher-Lopez

Edited: Mar 15, 2019, 3:41 PM

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#6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi: Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron, Simon Pagenaud

Cameron, in the car he’ll share with Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud, lapped the 3.74-mile airport course in 1min45.865sec to score his first-ever pole in the IMSA Prototype category.

He beat both his teammate Helio Castroneves and Mazda Team Joest’s Tristan Nunez by 0.146sec, but the fact that Nunez set his time before Castroneves means the #77 Mazda will split the Acuras on the grid.

The second Mazda RT24-P, driven by Jonathan Bomarito, set the fastest time in the first sector but couldn’t put a strong lap together and will start seventh.

That leaves him separated from his teammate by the two Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.Rs and the similar machine of Wayne Taylor Racing.

The two JDC-Miller Caddys beat Juncos Racing’s Will Owen to claim eighth and ninth.

Jon Bennett, who traditionally starts for CORE autosport, was 4sec off the fastest Prototype, and was separated from the penultimate car by the two LMP2 Orecas.

That two-car class battle was surprisingly close, and was settled in Matt McMurry’s favor when he drove the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport car just 0.011sec faster than Kyle Masson in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry.

#911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR, GTLM: Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy, Frederic Makowiecki

Photo by: Scott R LePage / LAT Images

In GT Le Mans, Patrick Pilet led Laurens Vanthoor in a 1-2 for the Porsche 911 RSRs, 0.143sec apart, to grab pole position with a 1min55.899sec lap in the car he’ll share with Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki.

Reigning GTLM champ Antonio Garcia was third fastest in the #3 Corvette C7.R, a quarter-second off pole and just 0.031sec faster than the Ford GT of Richard Westbrook, which beat the second ’Vette of Tommy Milner by just 0.059sec.

Astonishingly, Jesse Krohn and Tom Blomqvist set identical times in the BMW M8s, 0.587sec off Pilet’s pole-winning time, and a quarter second ahead of Dirk Muller’s Ford.

#86 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX: Trent Hindman, Mario Farnbacher, Justin Marks

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Trent Hindman delivered a knife-between-the-teeth performance to duck the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX under the two-minute barrier and grab pole position in GT Daytona.

Driving the car he’ll share with Mario Farnbacher and Justin Marks, Hindman produced a 1min59.917sec to eclipse his nearest rival – the ever-surprising Turner Motorsport BMW M6 of Robbie Foley – by 0.382sec.

Zacharie Robichon was third quickest in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, equidistant behind Foley and ahead of Rolf Ineichen’s Grass Racing Lamborghini.

Ineichen claimed fastest Lambo honors by only 0.065sec, as the Precision Performance Motorsports Huracan – rebuilt after Don Yount’s shunt yesterday – was fifth fastest in the hands of Brandon Gdovic. Sixth went to two-time GTD champion Christina Nielsen in the second MSR Acura.

Cooper MacNeil drove WeatherTech Racing’s Ferrari 488 – the only Ferrari in the field – to seventh, to edge ahead of Frankie Montecalvo in the faster of the two Lexus RC Fs of AIM Vasser-Sullivan.

The second Lexus had its times deleted when a team member put his hands on the car during the session - a no-no under IMSA regulations.

The Mercedes AMG-GT3s haven’t looked ultimate pacesetters this week, but Ben Keating qualified ninth in the Riley Motorsports entry, fast enough to beat the Audis of Montaplast by Land Motorsport (Daniel Morad) and Starworks Motorsport (Ezequiel Perez Companc).

Qualifying times:

Pos. No. Drivers Class Chassis Time Gap 1 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
France Simon Pagenaud
United States Dane Cameron DPi Acura DPi 1'45.865 2 77 United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
Germany Timo Bernhard
Tristan Nunez DPi Mazda DPi 1'46.011 0.146 3 7 Alexander Rossi
Brazil Helio Castroneves
Ricky Taylor DPi Acura DPi 1'46.011 0.146 4 5 New Zealand Brendon Hartley
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Joao Barbosa DPi Cadillac DPi 1'46.238 0.373 5 31 Brazil Pipo Derani
United States Eric Curran
Brazil Felipe Nasr DPi Cadillac DPi 1'46.354 0.489 6 10 Jordan Taylor
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
France Matthieu Vaxiviere DPi Cadillac DPi 1'46.530 0.665 7 55 United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
France Olivier Pla
Jonathan Bomarito DPi Mazda DPi 1'46.832 0.967 8 84 Switzerland Simon Trummer
United States Chris Miller
South Africa Stephen Simpson DPi Cadillac DPi 1'47.086 1.221 9 85 Colombia Juan Piedrahita
Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
France Tristan Vautier DPi Cadillac DPi 1'47.275 1.410 10 50 Austria Rene Binder
Will Owen
Agustin Canapino DPi Cadillac DPi 1'47.478 1.613 11 52 Matt McMurry
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
France Gabriel Aubry LMP2 ORECA LMP2 1'49.728 3.863 12 38 United States Kyle Masson
Canada Cameron Cassels
Andrew Evans LMP2 ORECA LMP2 1'49.739 3.874 13 54 France Romain Dumas
Jon Bennett
Colin Braun DPi Nissan DPi 1'50.029 4.164 14 911 United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Patrick Pilet
France Frédéric Makowiecki GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 1'55.899 10.034 15 912 New Zealand Earl Bamber
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
France Mathieu Jaminet GTLM Porsche 911 RSR 1'56.042 10.177 16 3 Denmark Jan Magnussen
Spain Antonio Garcia
Germany Mike Rockenfeller GTLM Corvette C7.R 1'56.158 10.293 17 67 Australia Ryan Briscoe
Scott Dixon
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook GTLM Ford GT 1'56.189 10.324 18 4 Switzerland Marcel Fassler
Oliver Gavin
United States Tommy Milner GTLM Corvette C7.R 1'56.248 10.383 19 24 John Edwards
Finland Jesse Krohn
Austria Philipp Eng GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'56.486 10.621 20 25 Connor de Phillippi
Tom Blomqvist
Colton Herta GTLM BMW M8 GTE 1'56.486 10.621 21 66 France Sébastien Bourdais
Joey Hand
Germany Dirk Muller GTLM Ford GT 1'56.731 10.866 22 86 United States Justin Marks
Germany Mario Farnbacher
Trent Hindman GTD Acura NSX GT3 1'59.917 14.052 23 96 Bill Auberlen
Robby Foley
Dillon Machavern GTD BMW M6 GT3 2'00.299 14.434 24 9 Canada Scott Hargrove
Lars Kern
Canada Zacharie Robichon GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'00.504 14.639 25 11 Switzerland Rolf Ineichen
Italy Mirko Bortolotti
Netherlands Rik Breukers GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'00.710 14.845 26 47 United States Brandon Gdovic
Lawson Aschenbach
Don Yount GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'00.775 14.910 27 57 United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Denmark Christina Nielsen
Brazil Ana Beatriz GTD Acura NSX GT3 2'00.809 14.944 28 63 Finland Toni Vilander
Cooper MacNeil
Jeff Westphal GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 2'00.974 15.109 29 12 United States Townsend Bell
Frankie Montecalvo
Aaron Telitz GTD Lexus RC F GT3 2'01.100 15.235 30 33 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
Ben Keating
Felipe Fraga GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'01.184 15.319 31 29 Canada Daniel Morad
Germany Christopher Mies
Switzerland Richard Feller GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 2'01.189 15.324 32 8 United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
United States Parker Chase
Argentina Ezequiel Perez Companc GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 2'01.333 15.468 33 48 Corey Lewis
Bryan Sellers
Ryan Hardwick GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'01.725 15.860 34 71 Germany Fabian Schiller
Germany Maximilian Buhk
JC Perez GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 2'01.961 16.096 35 73 United States Patrick Long
Patrick Lindsey
Nicholas Boulle GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R 2'02.150 16.285 36 44 Andy Lally
Spencer Pumpelly
John Potter GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2'02.205 16.340 37 19 Andrew Davis
Will Hardeman
Spain Alex Riberas GTD Audi R8 LMS GT3 2'02.534 16.669 38 14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
Switzerland Philipp Frommenwiler
Richard Heistand GTD Lexus RC F GT3 0.000

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