Allan McNish, Audi Earn Top Starting Position At Sebring

[PressRoom-GFN]

SEBRING, Fla. (March 13, 2008) -- Allan McNish and Audi will start on the inside front row for Saturday's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring thanks to the time posted Thursday during practice at Sebring International Raceway.

The prototype field had less than 10 minutes of green-flag qualifying time, thus the results from the session were disallowed. That resulted in McNish's Audi R10 TDI earning the inside front row starting position based on his time of 1:43.195 -- 129.076 mph -- in Thursday morning's official practice session. He will start alongside the Peugeot 908 driven by Pedro Lamy, Nic Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin. That team posted the second quickest time of the week at 1:44.27 -- 127.744 mph. Like the Audi, the Peugeot set its best time Thursday morning.

The qualifying session was halted when Ben Devlin slammed into the outside tire wall at turn 1. The Englishman escaped injury, but it was a different situation for the car and the debris. With not enough time remaining in the 25-minute session to clear the track and resume qualifying, officials canceled qualifying and set the grid by practice times in accordance with Series Standing Supplemental Regulations.

"We were hoping to see qualifying. We didn't really get a fair opportunity to see what the cars could do," McNish said. "That would be the first time any of us could see the improvements in the Peugeot and new Acura. As we came into today, we made some changes, which made the car feel much better. This is such a hard circuit that you don't want a bucking bronco for 12 hours."

Third on the grid will be the second Audi of Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner.

Audi will go for its ninth straight win at Sebring, a string that started in 2000 with its R8 prototype. The diesel-powered R10 TDI has won the last two seasons, but the German marque faces a serious challenge from the factory Peugeot. Both are diesel-powered cars and will face off Saturday for the first time since the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007. In that event, Peugeot sat on the pole and Audi won the race.

Saturday is the first time Peugeot has raced in North America, and its debut comes in a race where one's starting position rarely means anything. The 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit is notorious for finding weaknesses in cars, especially on the track's bumpy parts.

"You expect the unexpected here. In that respect, we go into the race knowing we will be competitive and they will be competitive," McNish said. "We have a general game plan, but in reality, no one knows how it is going to shake out."

Penske Begins Season On LMP2 Pole

The No. 7 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder will start first in LMP2 and fourth overall. Timo Bernhard's time of 1:45.220 -- 126.592 mph -- was good enough to take the top spot in class by 0.79 second over its No. 6 sister car.

Bernhard will team with Romain Dumas, the duo returning to defend their 2007Series class championship. They will join Emmanuel Collard behind the wheel this weekend.

"I am very happy to be back in the series with the same team and teammate, the same number and car," Bernhard said. "This gives me a lot of trust to go into 2008. We have the same tools to have the same success we had last year. It will be very hard to copy that because it was such a special season. Sebring is one of the toughest races, but I have full trust in the people. We finished third last year and it was a good way to start the season."

Bernhard and Dumas won eight times in LMP2 for Penske in 2007 with six of those overall victories. But the Penske team has come up short at Sebring since its first start on the winding course with the Porsche RS Spyder in 2006.

"This is the race we haven't won in the RS Spyder," Bernhard said. "But we have to also get points. That is the first goal. This track is quite rough; not only on the drivers but the car as well. If you can do consistent lap times throughout your stint, that is an advantage. I think we are in a good position where we can push if we need to. But in a 12-hour race, you don't want to do that all the time."

The Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b led the Acura contingent in the manufacturer's quest for a second straight P2 win at Sebring. Adrian Fernandez set the time of 1:46.029 -- 125.626 mph -- in the entry he will share with Luis Diaz. The pairing finished third overall and second in their first P2 race in 2007, trailing the Andretti Green Racing Acura for the class victory.

Corvette Tops In GT1

For the second straight year, Corvette Racing's No. 3 Corvette C6.R will start from the GT1 pole thanks to Jan Magnussen's fast lap of 1:56.547 -- 114.562 mph -- Thursday morning. The Dane beat out teammate Oliver Gavin by 0.389 second to claim the top spot in class.

Magnussen is teaming with Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows. Gavin will join Olivier Beretta and Max Papis, the defending class winners in the event.

"For us, the week so far has been working on the race setup," said Magnussen, who qualified on the class pole for the 2007 race. "It has been very hard with the temperature. It doesn't look like it has been close to what it will be for the race. The qualifying setup was probably the closest we could have gotten. We tested sometime ago here with similar conditions and we used that to our advantage."

Antonio Garcia qualified Bell Motorsports' Aston Martin DBR9 third in class at 2:00.385. The team has suffered from the lack of track time after having to repair the chassis on Tuesday and Wednesday.

GT2 Repeat

Like Magnussen, Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo posted the fastest class lap for the second straight year in GT2. The defending class winner and season champion was at 2:01.184 -- 109.916 mph -- in the first of Risi's two Ferrari F430 GTs. Melo will team with Mika Salo, with whom he won at Sebring and captured the class championship, and Gianmaria Bruni.

Like Porsche in P2, Ferrari held the top two spots in class. Tafel Racing's Ferrari of Dirk Mueller, Dominik Farnbacher and Rob Bell was second at 2:01.800 -- 109.360 mph.

As close as the 0.6161-second gap seemed, it was bigger than Risi's winning margin in last year's race. Melo beat Flying Lizard Jörg Bergmeister by 0.202 second in the closest finish in race history.

"We have always said we race against the best competition in the world in the GT2 class, and now the rest of the world knows exactly how close it is," Melo said. "This year, I want to repeat the victory but with more margin."

Porsche Tops In GT3

Bergmeister was the first of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports entry at 2:01.831 -- 109.332 mph. This is the first race for the revised Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

If trends count for anything, Melo and his mates are in a good spot. Melo has won six times starting from the pole position, including four times last year: Sebring, Road America, Mosport and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

"Everybody knows how different the track is with the temperature, so it's been very hard to set the car up," Melo said. "But the conditions have been very similar today, so we did not change much. My best lap time, I missed the last turn so I could have been two- or three-tenths better. The car is just really good, and the race is the most important part."

The 2008 American Le Mans Series season opens with the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday. The race starts at 10 a.m. EST and will be broadcast live by SPEED, which begins its coverage at 9:30 a.m. MotorsTV, SPEED Latin America and Greenlight Television will provide international coverage. The race also will be aired on XM Satellite Radio from 10 a.m. to noon and 9 p.m. to the finish on XM Channel 166. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA's live timing and scoring is available at americanlemans.com.

56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.
Saturday's Lineup

1. Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Tom Kristensen, Denmark; Allan McNish, Scotland; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:43.195, 129.076
2. Nicola Minassian, England; Stephane Sarrazin, France; Pedro Lamy, Lisbon Portugal; Peugeot 908 (P1), 1:44.271, 127.744
3. Lucas Luhr, Germany; Mike Rockenfeller, Germany; Marco Werner, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:45.090, 126.749
4. Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Emmanuel Collard, France; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:45.220, 126.592
5. Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Ryan Briscoe, Australia; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:45.999, 125.662
6. Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:46.029, 125.626
7. Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Andy Lally, New York, NY; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:46.348, 125.249
8. Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Christian Fittipaldi, Miami, FL; Marco Andretti, Nazareth, PA; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:46.632, 124.916
9. Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Lola B06/10 AER (P1), 1:47.358, 124.071
10. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:47.567, 123.830
11. David Brabham, Australia; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Stefan Johansson, Sweden; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:47.819, 123.540
12. Fredy Lienhard Sr., Switzerland; Didier Theys, Belgium; Jan Lammers, The Netherlands; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:48.522, 122.740
13. Juan Barazi, Switzerland; Michael Vergers, England; Jean Ravier, France; Zytek 07S (P2), 1:49.820, 121.289
14. Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Raphael Matos, Brazil; Lola B07 46 Mazda (P2), 1:49.966, 121.128
15. Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Tony Burgess, Canada; Creation CA07-002 Judd (P1), 1:53.851, 116.995
16. Ron Fellows, Canada; Johnny O'Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 1:56.269, 114.562
17. Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Max Papis, Italy; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 1:56.547, 114.289
18. Terry Borcheller, Vero Beach, FL; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Antonio Garcia, Spain; Aston Martin DBR9 (GT1), 2:00.730, 110.329
19. Jaime Melo, Brazil; Mika Salo, Finland; Gianmaria Bruni, Italy; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:01.184, 109.916
20. Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Müller, Germany; Robert Bell, UK; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:01.800, 109.360
21. Jörg Bergmeister, Germany; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:01.831, 109.332
22. Allan Simonsen, Australia; Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Pierre Ehret, Santa Rosa, CA; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:02.227, 108.987
23. Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Patrick Pilet, France; Richard Lietz, Austria; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.238, 108.968
24. Dirk Werner, Germany; Marc Basseng, Germany; Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:02.594, 108.651
25. Lou Gigliotti, Dallas, TX; Doug Peterson, Bonita Springs, FL; Marc Goosens, Belgium; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (GT2), 2:03.630, 107.741
26. Uwe Alzen, Germany; Craig Stanton, Long Beach, CA; Nathan Swartzbaugh, La Habra Heights, LA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.861, 107.540
27. Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (GT2), 2:03.931, 107.479
28. Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Alex Davison, Australia; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:04.081, 107.349
29. Tracy Krohn, Houston, TX; Nic Jonsson, Sweden; Eric van de Poele, Belgium; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:04.933, 106.617
30. Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Tim Sudgen, England; Aston Martin DBRS9 (GT2), 2:04.938, 106.613
31. Gunnar Jeannette, Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Johnny Mowlem, England; Ralf Kelleners, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:05.666, 105.995
32. Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Competiton Coupe (GT2), 2:06.004, 105.711
33. Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; David Robertson, Ray, MI; David Murry, Cumming, GA; Doran Ford GT-R (GT2), 2:06.527, 105.274
34.Miroslav Konopka, Slovakia; Mauro Casadei, Italy; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:14.059, 99.359

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Courtesy of the America Le Mans Series