American Le Mans Series

Brabham grabs pole in thrilling qualifying session

© American Le Mans Series

In a very exciting LMP category qualifying it was David Brabham in the Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01B who secured pole position on the final lap. In a session that was interrupted twice by red flags the battle for pole position went all the way through the end with ten cars within a second as the chequered flag came out.

The LMP1 and LMP2 session was delayed for some minutes as the track was cleared from debris but as it got underway the LMP cars got out quickly. The Audi R10s were one of the first to set a fast lap time but just as David Brabham was about to take provisional pole the red flag came out due to more debris out on track. The Penske Porsches had not been out on the track yet at that point after being given penalties for incidents during the free practice sessions.

As the session was restarted the LMP cars, including the Penske cars, went out again and the lap times quickly dropped. The Audi’s were put aside by the Porsche and Acura’s, but then the red flag came out once again.

In the final part of the session the action really got underway with the fastest lap time being improved at almost every passing of the finish line. Despite clear instructions by the race officials the drivers used all available space, even if that included four wheels off the track, and the track got dirtier and dirtier. Nevertheless the times kept dropping and with only a few minutes to go the top nine was within four tenths of a second.

But then David Brabham went for it. After setting a low 47 second lap on his first, successful, attempt he was the last driver out on track to be able to improve the pole time. The Australian somehow managed to find some extra’s and stopped the clocks on 46.696, almost four tenths quicker than Simon Pagenaud in the de Ferran Motorsports Acura.

The battle in the GT categories was less exciting than in the LMP qualifying but there was still a nice battle for the respective class poles.

In GT1 it was Oliver Gavin who clinched the GT1 pole. He beat team mate Magnussen by almost three tenths of a second as he set a 52.792. The Bell Motorsports Aston Martin DBR9 did not take part in qualifying.

Farnbacher Loles Racing took the GT2 pole position. Dirk Werner and the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR flew around the track, stopping the timing devices at 54.154, just a second slower than the second-quickest Corvette and almost six tenths of a second quicker than his nearest rivals. Mika Salo in the #61 Risi Competizione Ferrari took second place, after missing out on the first part of the GT session, while Dirk Müller was third fastest at one tenth of the Risi car.

Qualifying times:

1 9 P2 Patron Highcroft Racing 46.696
2 66 P2 de Ferran Motorsports 47.082
3 6 P2 Penske Racing 47.177
4 7 P2 Penske Racing 47.240
5 15 P2 Lowe`s Fernandez Racing 47.264
6 20 P2 Dyson Racing Team 47.325
7 26 P2 Andretti Green Racing 47.372
8 1 P1 Audi Sport North America 47.403
9 2 P1 Audi Sport North America 47.539
10 16 P2 Dyson Racing Team 47.848
11 8 P2 B-K Motorsports 49.251
12 4 GT1 Corvette Racing 52.792
13 3 GT1 Corvette Racing 53.039
14 87 GT2 Farnbacher Loles 54.154
15 62 GT2 Risi Competizione 54.720
16 71 GT2 Tafel Racing 54.824
17 45 GT2 Flying Lizard Motorsports 54.932
18 46 GT2 Flying Lizard Motorsports54.971
19 21 GT2 Panoz Team PTG 55.312
20 61 GT2 Risi Competizione 55.458
21 44 GT2 Flying Lizard Motorsports 55.466
22 007 GT2 Drayson-Barwell 57.409
23 54 GT2 Black Swan Racing 57.724
24 11 GT2 Primetime Race Group 58.508
25 008 GT1 Bell Motorsports no time
26 73 GT2 Tafel Racing no time, crash damage from FP2
27 37 P1 Intersport Racing no time, engine damage