2010 SEBRING 12 HOURS - QUALIFYING

The drivers named to start Saturday’s 12 Hours of Sebring – the world’s longest race after the Le Mans 24 Hours – are Austria’s Alexander Wurz in the N°07 car (followed by Briton Anthony Davidson, then Marc Gené) and Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais in the N°08 908 HDi FAP (followed by Portugal’s Pedro Lamy and France’s Nicolas Minassian). The field will be flagged away at 10:30am local time (3:30pm CET).

For the third year running, Team Peugeot Total has chosen to begin its preparations for the Le Mans 24 Hours in Florida. This time round, the two Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs having been lapping at Sebring since Saturday March 13 and will remain at the circuit until Tuesday March 23.

The real action is in the GT2 class.........BMW took pole but failed the subsequent technical inspection, promoting The Flying Lizard Porsche to the front.
via:autoblog



Press Release

PEUGEOT ON POLE: GENE LEADS
FRONT-ROW SEBRING SWEEP
Class pole positions Franchitti, Jeannette, Muller and Keen

Marc Gene's first trip to Sebring International Raceway has been a productive one already. The Spanish star qualified on pole position for the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida with a lap of 1:45.214 (126.599 mph) for Team Peugeot Total, beating out teammate Nic Minassian by 0.627 seconds.

The two diesel-powered factory Peugeot 908 HDI FAPs will start from the front row for the opening round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. A victory in Saturday will mean the French manufacturer holds current championships in all three of the world's endurance classics.

Gene will drive with fellow reigning Le Mans 24 Hours winner Alexander Wurz and Anthony Davidson. Only Davidson has competed in the 12 Hours while the trio of Minassian, Sebastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy in the sister car have 18 starts between them.

"I was very worried before coming here because I had heard so much about it," Gene said. "There were the bumps, the fast curves. I tried to play it on video games but I had to play it so much! Then I moved on to videos and Nic helped me a lot. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't have won pole position."

The two Peugeots have been utterly dominant this week with the two fastest times in each session. That continued Friday with the 908s locking fellow LMP1 competitors Aston Martin Racing and Drayson Racing out of the front row.

Stefan Mücke qualified third for Aston Martin with a lap of 1:46.079 (125.567 mph). He is driving the Lola B09/60-Aston Martin with Adrian Fernandez and Harold Primat.

Such gaps aren't lulling the Lions to sleep, however. As Gene can attest – even in his limited experience here – Sebring can bite back in a hard way.

"We have lost speed on the straight due to the rules. For sure the Aston Martin will be very tough," he said. "There are a couple of very dangerous corners," he said. "There are no corners like 1 and 17 in Europe. I just came from Bahrain and some of the F1 drivers there would come here and (pull their hair out)."

Marino Franchitti won his second career Sebring LMP2 pole for Patrón Highcroft Racing and Honda Performance Development. The popular Scot qualified the Patrón Highcroft HPD ARX-01c with a time of 1:47.684 (123.695 mph). He will drive with 2009 Series LMP1 champion – and reigning Le Mans overall winner – David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud.

You could throw a net over the three fastest drivers in class. Franchitti was only 0.054 seconds better than Klaus Graf in the Muscle Milk Team CytoSport Porsche RS Spyder; he will drive with team owner Greg Pickett and Sascha Maassen.

Guy Smith qualified Dyson Racing's isobutanol-powered Lola B09/86-Mazda at 1:47.882 (123.468 mph). He will team with Chris Dyson and Andy Meyrick.

"It was certainly very close but we thought our competition didn't show everything they had before qualifying," said Franchitti, who also claimed the LMP2 pole at Sebring in 2004. "We didn't have the best setup but it was good enough. I obviously have two talented and terrific teammates in David and Simon. We have a new big sponsor in GE and it's great to welcome them with a pole. Hopefully we can do that with a win tomorrow."

The Patrón Highcroft entry is an updated version of the ARX-01 lineup that debuted during the 2007 season. Franchitti drove the 01a model for Andretti Green Racing that year and loves the updates the car has received since then.

"There are certainly significant changes that were in the pipeline that didn't come online when I was with Andretti Green," he said. "It was nice for me to get back into a car I know and have everything be better. It's been great. The Highcroft guys have won a lot of races but this is the one race that's eluded them."

Gunnar Jeannette will go down in the history books as the first pole-winner in the new Le Mans Prototype Challenge class. He won out in a terrific qualifying battle with a lap of 1:55.279 (115.546 mph) driving the Green Earth Team Gunnar ORECA FLM09. The former Panoz factory pilot outpaced Ryan Hunter-Reay in the first of Level 5 Motorsports' two FLM09s by just 0.118 seconds.

"It was really exciting," said Jeannette, who will drive with Christian Zugel and Elton Julian. "It's an honor to have the first class for a new car in the series. Our G-Oil car was really hooked up. We skipped the morning practice to do race prep. We were comfortable with our qualifying setup."

The competition between the top three cars in the class has been as tight as any other during the week. The top three qualifiers were within 0.822 seconds; Christophe Bouchut ended the session third in the second Level 5 entry at 1:56.101 (114.728 mph).

Jeannette admitted there is some uncertainly about debuting a new car and new class at America's most grueling race.

"Even though the basis of the car is an endurance racing machine, there are some bits that aren't race-tested," he said. "I think we're all going to aim to get to the finish. Christian did about a stint-and-a-half at the test so we know Michelin has given us a good multiple tire so we'll be doing double- and triple-stints hopefully we can keep doing it lap after lap."

Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister qualified on pole for GT2. He originally placed second before Dirk Müller's pole-winning BMW M3 was excluded from qualifying after failing a post-session stall test in technical inspections.

Bergmeister's best lap was a 2:01.150 (109.946 mph) pass in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR that he will drive with fellow factory pilots Patrick Long and Marc Lieb.

"We made a really aggressive tire choice today but we were surprised that the competition wasn't as fast as they were earlier in the week," Bergmeister said. "We're pleased to be on the front of the grid but we know it's a long race."

Müller had set a lap of 2:00.782.

Porsches held the top two spots with an impressive performance for Team Falken Tire. Factory driver Wolf Henzler set a lap of 2:01.201 (109.900 mph) in the car he will drive with Bryan Sellers and Porsche works driver Patrick Pilet. The team is competing in its first full season in the Series for 2010.

Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo qualified third with a lap of 2:01.236 (109.868 mph) in the Ferrari F430 GT that he will drive with Gimmi Bruni and Pierre Kaffer. Risi hasn't lost an endurance round since Sebring 2008.

The top seven cars were under the 2:01 mark, and eight entries – not counting Müller's time – broke the class qualifying record.

Alex Job Racing entries swept the top three positions in GT Challenge with Leh Keen turning a best lap of 2:05.959 (105.749 mph) in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car he will share with Butch Leitzinger and Juan Gonzalez. Keen, whose only other start was at Petit Le Mans in 2005, bested Patrick Kelly by 1.159 seconds.

Kelly will drive with Ricardo Gonzalez and last year's LMP2 co-champion Luis Diaz.

"I've never done this race before and only have done Petit Le Mans a few years ago," Keen said. "The class of drivers here is very high. Now that we can run the GTC class, it brings a few more cars in. My laps were pretty clean. Our guys set up the car really well. The car is going to have more of a race setup now. It's like a 24-hour race squished down into 12."

AJR is a six-time winner at Sebring in GT classes and obviously knows how to get around at Sebring. But there are some new dynamics such as the new car and new class running 12 hours on such a demanding circuit.

"The one that has the cleanest race will have the best chance," Keen said. "We were setting up the car and had a little bit of a push early this week. Turn 17 and 1 are pretty bumpy and that's just the way the track is. Some of the understeer in 14 and 15 was bad. I think we're close to getting something we're comfortable with and can drive for the full race."

Romeo Kapudija qualified the AJR Porsche he will share with Bill Sweedler and Jan Dirk-Lueders third with a lap of 2:07.205 (104.713 mph).

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, the opening round of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón and America's greatest sports car race, starts at 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday. The green flag will fall at 10:30 a.m. ET with live coverage on SPEED starting at 10 a.m. ET. Live coverage also will be available on American Le Mans Radio, as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 245.Visit the Series' schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.

You can follow the Series on Twitter (almsnotes) and on our Facebook page and the official YouTube channel.

58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
presented by Fresh from Florida
Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.
Saturday's lineup
1. Marc Gene, Spain; Anthony Davidson, England; Alexander Wurz; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (P1), 1:45.214, 126.599
2. Pedro Lamy, Lisbon Portugal; Sebastien Bourdais, France; Nicolas Minassian, England; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (P1), 1:45.841, 125.849
3. Stefan Mücke, Germany; Harold Primat, Switzerland; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Lola B09 60/Aston Martin (P1), 1:46.079, 125.567
4. Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Lola B09 60/Judd (P1), 1:46.460, 125.117
5. David Brabham, Australia; Simon Pagenaud, France; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; HPD ARX-01c (P2), 1:47.684, 123.695
6. Greg Pickett, Alamo, CA; Klaus Graf, Germany; Sascha Maassen, Germany; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:47.738, 123.633
7. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Andy Meyrick; Lola B09 86/Mazda (P2), 1:47.882, 123.468
8. Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Tony Burgess, Canada; Pierre Ehret, Santa Rosa, CA; Lola B06 10/AER (P1), 1:54.441, 116.392
9. Christian Zugel; Gunnar Jeannette, Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Elton Julian, Los Angeles, CA; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:55.279, 115.546
10. Scott Tucker; James Gue, Athens, GA; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:55.397, 115.428
11. 12. Scott Tucker; Christophe Bouchut, France; Mark Wilkins, Canada; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:56.101, 114.728
12. Mitch Pagery, Deerfield Beach, FL; Brian Wong; David Ducote; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:59.580, 111.390
13. Jörg Bergmeister, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:01.150, 109.946
14. Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Patrick Pilet, France; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:01.201, 109.900
15. Jaime Melo, Brazil; Gianmaria Bruni, Italy; Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Ferrari 430 GT (GT2), 2:01.236, 109.868
16. Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Johnny O'Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Antonio Garcia, Spain; Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (GT2), 2:01.358, 109.758
17. Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Emmanuel Collard, France; Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (GT2), 2:01.628, 109.514
18. Scott Sharp, Jupiter; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Ferrari 430 GT (GT2), 2:01.914, 109.257
19. Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Dirk Werner, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (GT2), 2:01.922, 109.250
20. Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Joao Barbosa, Portugal; Ferrari 430 GT (GT2), 2:02.242, 108.964
21. Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; David Robertson, Ray, MI; David Murry, Cumming, GA; Doran Design Ford GT (GT2), 2:03.622, 107.748
22. Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Leh Keen, Dublin, GA; Juan Gonzalez, Mexico; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 2:05.959, 105.749
23. Tracy Krohn, Houston, TX; Nic Jonsson, Sweden; Eric van de Poele, Belgium; Ferrari 430 GT (GT2), 2:06.680, 105.147
24. Ricardo Gonzalez, Mexico; Luis Diaz, Mexico; Patrick Kelly, Minnestrista, MN; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 2:07.018, 104.867
25. Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Romeo Kapudija, Lincolnwood, IL; Jan-Dirk Lueders; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 2:07.205, 104.713
26. Shane Lewis, Jupiter, FL; Gerry Vento, Palm Beach, FL; Lawson Aschenbach, West Palm Beach, FL; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 2:07.412, 104.543
27. Brett Curtis, Valencia, CA; James Sofronas, Newport Beach, CA; Andy Pilgrim, Del Ray Beach, FL; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 2:07.751, 104.265
28. Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Richard Lietz, Austria; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:07.874, 104.165
29. Richard, Henri, Los Altos Hills; Lally, Andy, New York, NY; Duncan Ende, Los Angeles, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 2:11.371, 101.392
30. Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Kyle Marcelli; Tom Weickardt, Whitefish Bay, WI; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 0, 0
31. Paul Gentilozzi, Lansing, MI; Marc Goosens, Belgium; Ryan Dalziel, Scotland; Jaguar XKRS (GT2), 2:04.804, 106.727
32. Robert Rodriquez, Zephyr Cove, NV; Galen Bieker, Burbank, CA; Cory Friedman; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 2:10.312, 102.216
33. Andy Wallace, England; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; JR Hildebrand; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:55.579, 115.246
34. Dirk Mueller, Germany; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Andy Priaulx, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (GT2), 2:00.782, 110.281