Qualifying report

IMSA Sebring 12 Hours

Sebring 12H: Cadillac locks out front row, Porsche crashes

Pipo Derani’s Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R will lead the field to the green in tomorrow’s 71st Twelve Hours of Sebring after grabbing pole, while Matt Campbell had a big crash in his Porsche 963 in the closing minutes.

David Malsher-Lopez

Edited: Mar 17, 2023, 7:34 PM

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Polesitter #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V- Series.R: Pipo Derani

GTP

A 20-minute session for eight class entrants on a 3.74-mile racecourse meant the teams could space themselves well on track. Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Autosport’s Ricky Taylor delivered a 1m46.100 to go half a second clear of fellow Acura ARX-06 runner, Tom Blomqvist in the Meyer Shank Racing entry. They both pitted for fresh rubber and while in the pits, they were split by Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, who then went faster still, delivering a 1m45.836s to spring to the top.

Sebastien Bourdais of Chip Ganassi Racing made it a Cadillac 1-2, just 0.087s away, and before anyone could effectively respond, Matt Campbell buried his #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 in the Turn 1 tire wall after brushing the inside wall.

Thus the V-Series.R not only scored its first pole, Cadillac locked out the front row. They had also run the whole session on just one set of tires, ensuring they have one more fresh set to use in tomorrow’s race than the Acuras.

Taylor’s effort on his first set ensures he’ll start third, alongside Mathieu Jaminet’s #6 Porsche, while Rolex 24 pole-winner Blomqvist will line up fifth.

Augusto Farfus was 0.9sec from the top spot in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, 0.15sec faster than the sister car of Connor De Phillippi.

LMP2

To no one’s surprise, the TDS Racing cars looked strong from their very first flyers, Francois Heriau leading Steven Thomas, but inevitably Ben Keating of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports wasn’t going to let that lie, and put himself firmly in the mix.

So too did George Kurtz of Crowdstrike Racing by APR, but Heriau delivered a 1m51.900s to lift himself 0.416s clear of his nearest challenger… temporarily. Then Keating punched in a 1m51.780s to move to the top.

Thomas had a strong first sector on his final efforts but couldn’t displace team-mate Heriau for second, but was over three-tenths clear of Kurtz.

LMP3

Gar Robinson has looked strong all weekend in the Riley Motorsports Ligier, and he went top until displaced by Glenn van Berlo of Andretti Autosport, who was some 1.4sec clear of the field. Remarkably, van Berlo actually extended that advantage by the end of the session, pulling 1.659s on nearest challenger Tonis Kasemets of Ave Motorsports.

Dan Goldburg of JDC Miller MotorSports was fastest Duqueine pilot, edging Robinson by mere hundredths to claim third on the grid.

GTD Pro / GTD

Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Lexus RC F and Daniel Serra in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 were the first drivers under the two minute barrier, but they were swiftly joined by Antonio Garcia in the Corvette C8.R, Alex Ribeiras in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.

Hawksworth improved to 1m59.582s, just 0.053s ahead of Daniel Juncadella in the WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, but then they were both eclipsed – by over a quarter-second – by Garcia’s 1m59.315s.

Just as the excitement was building, with four minutes to go, the Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R spun hard into the tire wall on the outside of Turn 1. Thankfully its occupant Klaus Bachler was able to emerge unaided, but the repairs needed for the tire wall meant the session was over.

Thus Garcia will lead the GTD Pro cars to the green with Hawksworth alongside, and Juncadella in third. Riberas and Serra were fourth and fifth in class.

In GTD, Kyle Marcelli scored his first ever pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, lapping his Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX in 1m59.714s, just 0.12s ahead of the Rolex 24 pole-winning Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis. The similar Benz of Mikael Grenier (Team Korthoff) was third just ahead of Aaron Telitz in the #12 Lexus.

Reflecting the Balance of Performance revisions since Daytona, Jan Heylen’s Wright Motorsports Porsche was fifth fastest, 0.308sec off the class lead, and one-tenth ahead of Alessio Rovera in Triarsi Competizione’s Ferrari 296.

Cla Num Driver Class Chassis Laps Time Gap 1 31 Brazil Pipo Derani
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
Jack Aitken GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 6 1'45.836 2 01 France Sébastien Bourdais
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
New Zealand Scott Dixon GTP Cadillac V-Series.R 5 1'45.923 0.087 3 10 United States Ricky Taylor
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Switzerland Louis Deletraz GTP Acura ARX-06 7 1'46.100 0.264 4 6 United Kingdom Nick Tandy
France Mathieu Jaminet
Dane Cameron GTP Porsche 963 6 1'46.426 0.590 5 60 Tom Blomqvist
Colin Braun
Brazil Helio Castroneves GTP Acura ARX-06 7 1'46.603 0.767 6 24 Austria Philipp Eng
Brazil Augusto Farfus
Germany Marco Wittmann GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 6 1'46.756 0.920 7 7 Australia Matt Campbell
Brazil Felipe Nasr
Denmark Michael Christensen GTP Porsche 963 6 1'46.851 1.015 8 25 United States Connor de Phillippi
United Kingdom Nick Yelloly
South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde GTP BMW M Hybrid V8 8 1'46.908 1.072 9 52 Ben Keating
France Paul-Loup Chatin
Alex Quinn LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 9 1'51.780 5.944 10 35 France François Heriau
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Josh Pierson LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 8 1'51.900 6.064 11 11 United States Steven Thomas
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
Scott Huffaker LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 9 1'52.169 6.333 12 04 George Kurtz
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
Nolan Siegel LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 8 1'52.486 6.650 13 20 Denmark Dennis Andersen
United Arab Emirates Ed Jones
Denmark Anders Fjordbach LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 7 1'53.350 7.514 14 8 Canada John Farano
New Zealand Scott McLaughlin
United States Kyffin Simpson LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 8 1'53.579 7.743 15 51 Eric Lux
Canada Devlin DeFrancesco
Brazil Pietro Fittipaldi LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 9 1'53.673 7.837 16 18 Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
Christian Rasmussen LMP2 ORECA LMP2 07 8 1'53.963 8.127 17 36 Jarett Andretti
Colombia Gabby Chaves
Glenn van LMP3 Ligier JS P320 7 1'55.215 9.379 18 4 Seth Lucas
Tonis Kasemets
United States Trenton Estep LMP3 Ligier JS P320 9 1'56.874 11.038 19 85 Till Bechtolsheimer
Netherlands Tijmen van der Helm
Daniel Goldburg LMP3 Duqueine D08 7 1'56.984 11.148 20 74 Gar Robinson
Brazil Felipe Fraga
Australia Josh Burdon LMP3 Ligier JS P320 8 1'57.012 11.176 21 30 Ari Balogh
Canada Garett Grist
United States Dakota Dickerson LMP3 Ligier JS P320 9 1'58.092 12.256 22 17 Canada Anthony Mantella
United Kingdom Wayne Boyd
Nico Varrone LMP3 Duqueine D08 8 1'58.164 12.328 23 38 Christopher Allen
Robert Mau
Tristan Nunez LMP3 Ligier JS P320 9 1'58.724 12.888 24 13 Canada Orey Fidani
Matthew Bell
Germany Lars Kern LMP3 Duqueine D08 9 1'59.160 13.324 25 3 Spain Antonio Garcia
United States Jordan Taylor
Tommy Milner GTD PRO Corvette C8.R GTD 6 1'59.315 13.479 26 33 Lance Willsey
Portugal Joao Barbosa
Nicolas Pino LMP3 Ligier JS P320 9 1'59.458 13.622 27 14 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth
Ben Barnicoat
Kyle Kirkwood GTD PRO Lexus RC F GT3 6 1'59.582 13.746 28 79 Spain Daniel Juncadella
France Jules Gounon
Germany Maro Engel GTD PRO Mercedes AMG GT3 4 1'59.635 13.799 29 93 United States Ashton Harrison
Costa Rica Danny Formal
Canada Kyle Marcelli GTD Acura NSX GT3 6 1'59.714 13.878 30 57 Russell Ward
Switzerland Philip Ellis
Netherlands Indy Dontje GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 5 1'59.834 13.998 31 23 United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Spain Alex Riberas
David Pittard GTD PRO Aston Martin Vantage GT3 5 1'59.925 14.089 32 62 Brazil Daniel Serra
Italy Davide Rigon
Brazil Gabriel Casagrande GTD PRO Ferrari 296 GT3 5 1'59.939 14.103 33 12 United States Frankie Montecalvo
Aaron Telitz
Canada Parker Thompson GTD Lexus RC F GT3 6 1'59.944 14.108 34 16 Ryan Hardwick
Belgium Jan Heylen
Canada Zacharie Robichon GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 5 2'00.022 14.186 35 023 Onofrio Triarsi
Charles Scardina
Italy Alessio Rovera GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 5 2'00.124 14.288 36 1 United States Bryan Sellers
Madison Snow
Corey Lewis GTD BMW M4 GT3 5 2'00.229 14.393 37 96 Patrick Gallagher
Robby Foley
Michael Dinan GTD BMW M4 GT3 5 2'00.504 14.668 38 78 Canada Mikhail Goikhberg
Italy Loris Spinelli
Chile Benjamin Hites GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 6 2'00.639 14.803 39 63 Frank Perera
South Africa Jordan Lee Pepper
France Romain Grosjean GTD PRO Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 6 2'00.763 14.927 40 70 United States Brendan Iribe
Switzerland Frederik Schandorff
United Kingdom Ollie Millroy GTD McLaren 720S GT3 5 2'01.395 15.559 41 47 Italy Roberto Lacorte
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Italy Antonio Fuoco GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 5 2'01.451 15.615 42 21 France Simon Mann
Spain Miguel Molina
Italy Francesco Castellacci GTD Ferrari 296 GT3 5 2'01.588 15.752 43 83 Switzerland Rahel Frey
Belgium Sarah Bovy
Denmark Michelle Gatting GTD Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 6 2'01.652 15.816 44 27 Canada Roman De Angelis
Denmark Marco Sorensen
United Kingdom Ian James GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 5 2'01.652 15.816 45 91 Alan Metni
Netherlands Kay van Berlo
Australia Jaxon Evans GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 5 2'01.927 16.091 46 44 United States John Potter
Andy Lally
Spencer Pumpelly GTD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 5 2'02.115 16.279 47 77 Alan Brynjolfsson
Trent Hindman
Maxwell Root GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 5 2'02.612 16.776 48 80 PJ Hyett
Seb Priaulx
Gunnar Jeannette GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 5 2'02.678 16.842 49 66 Sheena Monk
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
United States Marc Miller GTD Acura NSX GT3 5 2'03.342 17.506 50 92 David Brule
Alec Udell
France Julien Andlauer GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 5 2'04.555 18.719 51 9 Austria Klaus Bachler
France Patrick Pilet
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor GTD PRO Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 3 52 32 Mike Skeen
Canada Mikael Grenier
United States Kenton Koch GTD Mercedes AMG GT3 5 53 95 Bill Auberlen
Chandler Hull
John Edwards GTD PRO BMW M4 GT3 5 View full results

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