Backstretch Motorsports

Scott Dixon, New Zealand (right) shown with Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France won the overall pole for the Sebring 12 Hours for Acura and de Ferran Motorsports. (Dan Boyd/ALMS)

SEBRING, Fla. — Scott Dixon put Acura into the Sebring record books Thursday with a stunning final-lap dash to win the overall pole position for Saturday’s 57th annual 12 Hours of Sebring.

Dixon, the defending Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion, made his first Sebring race appearance quite notable by driving the all-new No. 66 de Ferran XM Radio Acura ARX-02a prototype sports car to the top position in Saturday’s grid over expected favorites Audi and Peugeot. It is the first time since 2005 that a manufacturer has captured both the LMP1 and LMP2 pole positions in the same event.

This weekend marks Acura’s debut in the LMP1 class in the American Le Mans Series, after two years of competition in the LMP2 category. Acura won the LMP2 division in its initial Sebring event in 2007.

Dixon made his best lap on his final clocking during qualifying, with a time of one minute, 45.278 seconds and an average speed of 126.522 miles per hour. Dixon will team with Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud when the 57th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring begins at 10:30 a.m. [EDT] Saturday.

The legendary Sebring International Raceway was lined with interested spectators Thursday for one of the most anticipated confrontations in Sebring race history with Acura taking on sports-car giants Audi and Peugeot, two regulars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. De Ferran Motorsports and Patrón Highcroft Racing cars are launching the new ARX-02a in ALMS competition.

Veteran Adrian Fernandez took Acura to the pole in the LMP2 class Thursday in his No. 15 Lowe’s Fernandez Acura ARX-01b with a speed of 119.425 m.p.h. The LMP2 pole marks Fernandez ‘ first American Le Mans Series pole. Luis Diaz, who placed third overall at Sebring in 2007 with Fernandez, will co-drive the Lowe’s car.

Trailing Dixon in qualifying Thursday was multi-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen in the No. 2 Audi followed by Nic Minassian in the No. 07 Peugeot, Mike Rockefeller in the No. 1 Audi, Formula One driver Sebastian Bourdais in the No. 08 Peugeot and David Brabham in the No. 9 Patrón Highcroft Acura ARX-02a. Brabham will share driving duties Saturday with 2007 Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and veteran Scott Sharp.

The new Acura ARX-02a car, with a 4-liter, normally-aspirated V-8 engine, will battle the turbocharged diesel Audi and Peugeot for the first time at Sebring Saturday in a grueling 12-hour contest.

The diesel Audis and Peugeots had been the quickest in every session this week. But on a track that is notorious for changing by the minute, Dixon found his comfort level.

“Overall it’s been a great week especially now having Acura on the overall pole,” Dixon said. “It was unexpected. We always shoot for the pole from the get-go. But realistically I thought we were only to be third or fourth. It was interesting when I heard I was going to qualify the car. I’m not sure why Gil picked me in the end, but I think all three of us could have done it.”

Kristensen is part of an Audi lineup that is debuting a brand new diesel-powered R15 TDI. He is driving one of the factory entries with Dindo Capello and Allan McNish.

The top five qualifiers were within 0.281 seconds of each other around the bruising 17-turn, 3.7-mile circuit. Peugeot’s Christian Klien was third-fastest in one of the two French 908 HDi coupes at 1:45.462 (126.301 mph). The Austrian F1 regular is teaming with Nic Minassian and Pedro Lamy.

In LMP2, Adrian Fernandez in the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b gave Acura a second pole position in the Series’ first race for the first time. The Mexican star earned his first American Le Mans Series pole position with a lap of 1:49.686 (121.438 mph) to outpace Dyson Racing’s two new Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupes.

Adrian Fernandez won his first LMP2 pole Thursday.
Fernandez will drive the 12 Hours with countryman Luis Diaz for the third consecutive season. The pairing had finished third overall in last year’s race before the Acura was excluded in post-race technical inspections, the first of many hard-luck issues for the team.

“It feels good to start the season well,” Fernandez said. “Last year was frustrating that we didn’t ever get a win we deserved. It was always some little stupid things that prevented us. So it’s great to focus on finishing the race. We know the car, we know the track, and we have the most experience in the car.”

Chris Dyson was Dyson Racing’s quickest qualifier at 1:51.534 (119.425 mph) in the Lola he will share with Guy Smith and Andy Lally. Butch Leitzinger was 0.306 seconds back in the sister entry that he will drive with Marino Franchitti and Ben Devlin.

“Dyson is a very experienced team,” Fernandez said. “We raced with them a lot last year but they seemed to finish better than us. Acura has done a good job with supporting us again. We know more about the car this year and more experience sometimes means more speed.”

Oliver Gavin captured his 18th career Series pole position and third at Sebring in Corvette Racing’s final 12 Hours race with the GT1 class Corvette C6.R. Gavin’s best lap of 1:57.882 (112.994 mph) beat Jan Magnussen in the second Corvette by 0.321 seconds.

Gavin and Olivier Beretta are looking for their third Sebring victory together and first with new teammate Marcel Fässler.

“It was nice to come away with a pole on the 10th anniversary of Corvette Racing,” Gavin said. “And anytime you can beat Jan in qualifying you know you earned your money. The cars feel like they have lost a lot of grip this year; that seems to be the biggest change for the track this year. If you get off track and make any mistakes then you’re ruined for the next three or four corners.”

Magnussen and Johnny O’Connell are the defending race winners, and their victory at Sebring last season was the first of eight on the season and sent them to the GT1 championship. They are driving this year with Antonio Garcia as Corvette Racing prepares for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“It’s great to race the Corvettes and prepare for Le Mans,” Gavin said. “It’s important to prep here. Both cars are very mindful that Le Mans is the goal. But I think both of us want to go away with the 10th anniversary victory for Corvette.”

Dirk Werner earned his first GT2 pole at Sebring.
Dirk Werner put Farnbacher Loles Racing and Porsche on the GT2 pole in another tight battle. The German’s lap of 2:03.051 (108.248 mph) in the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was enough to knock off Jörg Bergmeister in the first of Flying Lizard Motorsports’ two Porsches by 0.382 seconds.

“While driving I didn’t feel the time would have been good for pole,” Werner said. “The track changed a lot from this morning. It was very greasy. The team made fun of me and asked me why I was going so slow. But when I came in I realized that I was first and it was OK. It shows the abilities of the team. We’ve been fortunate to come back and it shows we are worth the works support.”

Werner will team with defending class co-champion race winner Wolf Henzler - part of the Flying Lizard lineup in 2008 - and Richard Lietz. The German gave Porsche its first fast qualifier in GT2 since 2004.

Bergmeister, Henzler’s teammate last season, is driving with Patrick Long and Marc Lieb.

Ferrari was third on the grid thanks to Gianmaria Bruni’s lap of 2:03.487 (107.866 mph) in the Advanced Engineering Pecom Racing Ferrari F430 GT that he will drive with Mathias Russo and Luis Companc.

The 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida will open the 11th season of the American Le Mans Series and serve as the 100th all-time Series race. SPEED will televise the race live from 10 a.m. to noon and 2-11 p.m. ET. American Le Mans Radio and Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.

57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
presented by Fresh from Florida
Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.
Thursday’s qualifying

1. Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Scott Dixon, New Zealand; Acura ARX-02a (P1), 1:45.278, 126.522
2. Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Tom Kristensen, Denmark; Allan McNish, Scotland; Audi R15 TDI (P1), 1:45.360, 126.424
3. Nicolas Minassian, England; Pedro Lamy, Lisbon Portugal; Christian Klien, Austria; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (P1), 1:45.462, 126.301
4. Lucas Luhr, Germany; Mike Rockenfeller, Germany; Marco Werner, Germany; Audi R15 TDI (P1), 1:45.551, 126.195
5. Stephane Sarrazin, France; Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; Sebastien Bourdais, France; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (P1), 1:45.559, 126.185
6. David Brabham, Australia; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Dario Franchitti, Scotland; Acura ARX-02a (P1), 1:46.504, 125.066
7. Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Luis Diaz, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:49.686, 121.438
8. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Andy Lally, New York, NY; Lola B09 86 Mazda (P2), 1:51.534, 119.425
9. Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Lola B06/10 AER (P1), 1:52.323,
10. Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Tony Burgess, Canada; Lola B06/10 AER (P1), 1:51.598, 119.357
11. Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Ben Devlin, England; Lola B09 86 Mazda (P2), 1:51.840, 119.099
12. Oliver Gavin, England; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Marcel Fassler, Switzerland; Corvette C6-R (GT1), 1:57.882, 112.994
13. Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Antonio Garcia, Spain; Corvette C6-R (GT1), 1:58.203, 112.687
14. Wolf Henzler, Germany; Dirk Werner, Germany; Richard Lietz, Austria; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.051, 108.248
15. Jörg Bergmeister, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:03.433, 107.913
16. Luis Companc, Argentina; Gianmaria Bruni, Italy; Mathias Russo, Argentina; Ferrari 430 GT (GT2), 2:03.487, 107.866
17. Mika Salo, Finland; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:03.829, 107.568
18. Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; David Robertson, Ray, MI; David Murry, Cumming, GA; Doran Ford GT MK 7 (GT2), 2:04.333, 107.132
19. Dirk Mueller, Germany; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; BMW E92 M3 (GT2), 2:03.514,
20. Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Ian James, England; Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford (GT2), 2:04.437, 107.042
21. Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; BMW E92 M3 (GT2), 2:04.566, 106.931
22. Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Ritchie Holt, Davie, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (GT2), 2:05.619, 106.035
23. Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Robert Bell, UK; Aston Martin Vantage GT2 (GT2), 2:05.692, 105.973
24. Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Hans Stuck, Germany; Hans Joachim Stuck, Austria; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:05.805, 105.878
25. Lou Gigliotti, Dallas, TX; Eric Curran, Easthampton, MA; Lucas Molo, Brazil; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (GT2), 2:06.678, 105.148
26. Tracy Krohn, Houston, TX; Nic Jonsson, Sweden; Eric van de Poele, Belgium; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 2:08.386, 103.750
27. Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 2:10.912, 101.748
28. Richard Westbrook, England; Marc Basseng, Germany; Lance David, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), No Time