American Le Mans Series

Utah ALMS Grand Prix - Qualifying

© American Le Mans Series

A late 1.31.050 of Timo Bernhard repeating the story of last practice got Penske an amzing pole when everyone thought de Ferran would get it with less than 2 minutes to go. A top 9 within less than a second but it does not get any closer than GT2 where both front row cars had exactly the same time at the end of an exciting session, the 45 Lizard getting the pole ahead of the 62 Risi Ferrari just because of him getting that 1.47.135 earlier in the session.

The GT classes went on first as usual and Olivier Beretta had #4 win the “Corvette duel” with just under 2/10ths of a second from team mates #3 ran by Johnny O’Connell. On GT2 it was a close battle as expected, Wolf Henzler breaking the 1.48 barrier in 1.47.370 by half session with Corsa and Risi behind at that point but quickly overtaken by the 46 Lizard as well. Both Farnbacher Loles and the 46 Lizards had to recover from spins but responded with very quick times in the top 3. Melo pushed with 1.47.4 but Henzler had managed a 1.47.135, Porsche looking like having a slight edge over Ferrari in the Utah heat. In his last lap Melo managed to get exactly the same time as Henzler to the 1/1000th of a second which meant the 45 Lizard took pole by the minimum possible (non) difference which guarantees a cracking GT race for tomorrow, the top 4 cars within 2/10ths of a second…

The LMP session started with Christian Fittipaldi starting fastest in 1.34.923 and spinning right after which gave the opportunity to Gil de Ferran to snap provisional pole in 1.32.104 right afterwards. The first car to go under the 1.32 was Frank Biela in 1.31.797 on Audi#1, also going off-track right after getting that fast time. But a 1.31.311 from de Ferran got the 66 Acura on top again making for a very close qualifying session indeed. with 1.31.4 and 1.31.8 Bernhard and Long got the Penske cars provisionally 2nd and 4th just before Díaz got 4/1000ths of a second behind Bernhard for 3rd overall.

Brabham did 3 laps improving each time until a 1.31.479 with 5 minutes to go, at that point the top 10 were within just over a second. The same went for Díaz that got second in 1.31.342 meaning the top 3 were within 64/1000ths of a second! Gil de Ferran got a 1.31.189 to sharpen the pole with 2 minutes to go and with many top cars still running Bernhard managed a 1.31.179 and then 1.31.050 to rob de Ferran from pole as the Brazilian went off track as well.

Qualifying times

1 7 P2 Penske Racing 1:31.050 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing
2 66 P2 de Ferran Motorsports 1:31.189 Acura ARX-01B de Ferran Motorsports
3 15 P2 Lowe`s Fernandez Racing 1:31.342 Acura ARX-01B Lowe`s Fernandez Racing
4 9 P2 Patron Highcroft Racing 1:31.352 Acura ARX-01B Patron Highcroft Racing
5 6 P2 Penske Racing 1:31.462 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing
6 2 P1 Audi Sport North America 1:31.590 Audi R10 Audi Sport North America
7 20 P2 Dyson Racing Team 1:31.683 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team
8 1 P1 Audi Sport North America 1:31.797 Audi R10 Audi Sport North America
9 26 P2 Andretti Green Racing 1:31.903 Acura ARX-01B Andretti Green Racing
10 16 P2 Dyson Racing Team 1:32.356 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team
11 37 P1 Intersport Racing 1:34.870 Lola B06/10 AER Intersport Racing
12 8 P2 B-K Motorsports 1:35.241 Lola B07/46 Mazda B-K Motorsports
13 4 GT1 Corvette Racing 1:43.869 Chevrolet Corvette LS7 Corvette Racing
14 3 GT1 Corvette Racing 1:44.044 Chevrolet Corvette LS7 Corvette Racing
15 45 GT2 Flying Lizard Motorsports 1:47.135 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports
16 62 GT2 Risi Competizione 1:47.135 Ferrari F430 GT Risi Competizione
17 46 GT2 Flying Lizard Motorsports 1:47.252 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports
18 87 GT2 Farnbacher Loles 1:47.338 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Farnbacher Loles
19 71 GT2 Tafel Racing 1:47.958 Ferrari F430 GT Tafel Racing
20 61 GT2 Risi Competizione 1:48.330 Ferrari F430 GT Risi Competizione
21 48 GT2 Corsa Motorsports 1:48.399 Ferrari F430 GT Corsa Motorsports
22 21 GT2 Panoz Team PTG 1:49.039 Panoz Esperante GTLM Panoz Team PTG
23 28 GT2 LG Motorsports 1:49.057 Chevrolet Corvette C6 LG Motorsports
24 73 GT2 Tafel Racing 1:49.928 Ferrari F430 GT Tafel Racing
25 40 GT2 Robertson Racing 1:50.433 Doran Ford GT-R Robertson Racing
26 18 GT2 VICI Racing 1:50.893 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR VICI Racing
27 007 GT2 Drayson-Barwell 1:51.743 Aston Martin Vantage GT2 Drayson-Barwell
28 44 GT2 Flying Lizard Motorsports 44 1:52.054 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports 44
29 11 GT2 Primetime Race Group ?.??? Dodge Viper Competition Co Primetime Race Group
30 5 GT2 VICI Racing ?.??? Porsche 911 GT3 RSR VICI Racing