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.
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 |  Juan Pablo Montoya  Simon Pagenaud  Dane Cameron |
DPi | Acura DPi | 1'45.865 | |
| 2 | 77 |  Oliver Jarvis  Timo Bernhard  Tristan Nunez |
DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'46.011 | 0.146 |
| 3 | 7 |  Alexander Rossi  Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor |
DPi | Acura DPi | 1'46.011 | 0.146 |
| 4 | 5 |  Brendon Hartley  Filipe Albuquerque  Joao Barbosa |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'46.238 | 0.373 |
| 5 | 31 |  Pipo Derani Eric Curran  Felipe Nasr |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'46.354 | 0.489 |
| 6 | 10 | Jordan Taylor  Renger van der Zande  Matthieu Vaxiviere |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'46.530 | 0.665 |
| 7 | 55 |  Harry Tincknell Olivier Pla Jonathan Bomarito |
DPi | Mazda DPi | 1'46.832 | 0.967 |
| 8 | 84 |  Simon Trummer  Chris Miller  Stephen Simpson |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'47.086 | 1.221 |
| 9 | 85 |  Juan Piedrahita  Mikhail Goikhberg  Tristan Vautier |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'47.275 | 1.410 |
| 10 | 50 |  Rene Binder Will Owen Agustin Canapino |
DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'47.478 | 1.613 |
| 11 | 52 |  Matt McMurry  Anders Fjordbach Gabriel Aubry |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'49.728 | 3.863 |
| 12 | 38 | Kyle Masson Cameron Cassels Andrew Evans |
LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 | 1'49.739 | 3.874 |
| 13 | 54 | Romain Dumas  Jon Bennett  Colin Braun |
DPi | Nissan DPi | 1'50.029 | 4.164 |
| 14 | 911 | Nick Tandy  Patrick Pilet  Frédéric Makowiecki |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'55.899 | 10.034 |
| 15 | 912 |  Earl Bamber  Laurens Vanthoor  Mathieu Jaminet |
GTLM | Porsche 911 RSR | 1'56.042 | 10.177 |
| 16 | 3 | Jan Magnussen  Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'56.158 | 10.293 |
| 17 | 67 |  Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon  Richard Westbrook |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'56.189 | 10.324 |
| 18 | 4 |  Marcel Fassler Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner |
GTLM | Corvette C7.R | 1'56.248 | 10.383 |
| 19 | 24 | John Edwards  Jesse Krohn  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 | Sébastien Bourdais Joey Hand  Dirk Muller |
GTLM | Ford GT | 1'56.731 | 10.866 |
| 22 | 86 | Justin Marks  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 |  Scott Hargrove Lars Kern  Zacharie Robichon |
GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2'00.504 | 14.639 |
| 25 | 11 | Rolf Ineichen  Mirko Bortolotti  Rik Breukers |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 2'00.710 | 14.845 |
| 26 | 47 | Brandon Gdovic Lawson Aschenbach Don Yount |
GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 2'00.775 | 14.910 |
| 27 | 57 |  Katherine Legge  Christina Nielsen  Ana Beatriz |
GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'00.809 | 14.944 |
| 28 | 63 |  Toni Vilander Cooper MacNeil Jeff Westphal |
GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 2'00.974 | 15.109 |
| 29 | 12 | Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 2'01.100 | 15.235 |
| 30 | 33 |  Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Felipe Fraga |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'01.184 | 15.319 |
| 31 | 29 |  Daniel Morad  Christopher Mies Richard Feller |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 2'01.189 | 15.324 |
| 32 | 8 |  Ryan Dalziel Parker Chase  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 |  Fabian Schiller  Maximilian Buhk JC Perez |
GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'01.961 | 16.096 |
| 35 | 73 | 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  Alex Riberas |
GTD | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 2'02.534 | 16.669 |
| 38 | 14 |  Jack Hawksworth Philipp Frommenwiler Richard Heistand |
GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 0.000 |
Sebring 12 Hours: Acura Team Penske dominates fourth practice
Hartley braced for “very intense” Sebring double
Acura reveals ARX-06 LMDh car for 2023 IMSA season
Acura has taken the covers off the ARX-06 LMDh challenger that will compete in the new GTP class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Racing Championship in 2023.
Porsche completes two-car Monza LMDh test as US-bound chassis debuts
Porsche Penske Motorsport has begun testing a second example of the 963 LMDh contender as its ramps up preparation for its twin programmes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2023.
Road America IMSA: Albuquerque/Taylor win, title rival Jarvis crashes
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor won Sunday’s rain-impacted IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America, as title rival Oliver Jarvis crashed his similar Acura in the closing laps of the race and lost the points lead.
Road America IMSA: Albuquerque on pole for Acura, Bourdais crashes hard
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque took pole position for Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America for Acura in a red-flagged qualifying, while Lexus took GTD pole thanks to Jack Hawksworth.
The British pair at the heart of Lexus's sportscar push
Have you heard the one about two British guys driving for a Japanese manufacturer in America’s top sportscar series? Time to sit down and talk with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat about racing across the pond… and your accent being mistaken for Australian!
Why Peugeot couldn't afford to take a Le Mans gamble in 2022
Ahead of the much-anticipated arrival of its new 9X8 Hypercar, Peugeot revealed that it would not be entering this year's Le Mans 24 Hours with its incoming machinery. Although development restrictions for homologated cars are partially responsible, the French marque can draw on its own lessons from its history in sportscars
Why the GTP name undermines convergence between IMSA and WEC
OPINION: The adoption by IMSA of the GTP name for its forthcoming LMDh versus Le Mans Hypercar era in 2023 appeals to fans of nostalgia - but it undermines the commonality achieved by bringing its rulebook into line with the WEC. GTP or Hypercar, both sides should settle on a single name
Celebrating the weird and wonderful monsters of sportscar racing
Few disciplines of motorsport offer better possibilities to build a colossus of the track than sportscars. For Autosport's recent Monsters of Motorsport special issue, we picked out some of the finest (and not so fine) that have graced sportscar classics including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring
How Castroneves and Meyer Shank conquered another US classic
Helio Castroneves continued his fine start to life with Meyer Shank Racing that netted the 2021 Indianapolis 500 victory by prevailing in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours together with teammates Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Simon Pagenaud. As Cadillac fell by the wayside, the Brazilian veteran won out in an all-Acura duel to the finish
How Derani's long road to title success exorcised painful memories
It took Pipo Derani no time at all to establish himself as a winner in IMSA, winning the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours on his first two starts in 2016. But it took until the final corner of the 2021 season before he could become its champion, the culmination of a journey that he believes has made him a better driver.
The significance of the next step in WEC/IMSA convergence
Following the latest convergence connection permitting Le Mans Hypercars from the FIA World Endurance Championship to compete against LMDh entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from 2023, it could open up enticing options not only to manufacturers but also for the calendar and race formats
Why a Mazda IMSA Prototype title would bring bitter joy
Can Mazda win this year’s IMSA Prototype championship? Undoubtedly. But it will be the culmination of an achingly hard struggle, after which the brand has decided to quit. David Malsher-Lopez tells the story of a bizarre blend of heartache and positivity.