The Qualifying for the 12 Hours of Sebring was run this afternoon European time, and all three classes delivered as always.
The race is the second round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as counts towards the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.
And for the second race in a row, it was Daniel Serra in the Spirit of Race Ferrari #51 grabbing Pole Position. He beat the rest of the field by more than half a second! The second fastest was Christopher Mies in the Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi #29, while Jack Hawksworth in 3GT Lexus #15 just sneaked in front of the sister car #14.
Christina Nielsen in the Wright Motorsports Porsche #58 took the car to eleventh, being the fastest Porsche in the field. She was just beaten by the other woman in the field, Katherine Legge in the Michael Shank Racing Acura #86.
One car didn’t take part in the Qualifying, and that was the other Michael Shank Racing Acura #93, since Justin Marks had a big accident during the Thursday practice. The team is busy trying to rebuild the car ahead of the race. Thankfully Marks is perfectly fine, so he will be ready for the car – if the car is ready.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Jake Galstad
The GTLM category also delivered for the full 15 minutes.
While BMW Team RLL was far off the pace at the opening round at Daytona, they were really awake this time.
Connor De Phillippi in #25 set the fastest time of all, followed by James Calado in the Risi Competizione Ferrari #62. Jesse Krohn in BMW Team RLL #24 was third fastest, ahead of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing with their #67 and #66.
Porsche #912 was marginally faster than Corvette #3, followed by the other Porsche #911, with Corvette #4 closing off the GTLM field. The full field was within one second, so nobody had a big advantage.
This Pole Position was the first for the new BMW M8 GTE, which also bodes well for the upcoming FIA WEC season. It took Porsche a lot longer to gain their first Pole Position with their new car back in 2017.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Jake Galstad
The Prototype category was the last to be on track.
It was an intense duel between Cadillac and Acura at the start of the Qualifying.
Tristan Vautier had a small trip off the track, but he quickly got the tires cleaned and took Pole Position on the following laps. Oliver Pla in the Tequila Patron Extreme Speed Motorsport Nissan #2 would try to get into the mix again, and drove the second fastest time of all.
But nobody was able to beat Vautier in the Spirit of Daytona Racing Cadillac #90, while Ricky Taylor in Acura Team Penske #7 did the third quickest lap.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Jake Galstad
Rene Rast in the Mazda Team Joest #77 was the best driver for the Japanese brand in 7th position, while Stephen Simpson in the JDC-Miller Motorsports #99 was the fastest LMP2 car in 11th. Paul di Resta in the United Autosports #32 closed the Prototype field, two seconds away from Pole Position. So it’s once again going to be a hard race for the British-American team.
The race starts Saturday afternoon 15.40 CET, and the race can be watched via IMSA.tv.
