ALMS: First pole for Franchitti and Acura

[Plex]

Dario Franchitti led an all-LMP2 front row in qualifying for the third round of the American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.

The Andretti Green driver snatched pole from the Porsche RS Spyder of Ryan Briscoe with his final effort, but the two Penske-run Porsches also made the top three.

"I'd love to tell you that it was the strategy but I was struggling to get a clean lap through traffic," said Franchitti.

"On a street course and in a shorter race, track position is important. It will be nice to lead into Turn 1 as well as out of it."

Dindo Capello took pole position for the LMP1 category in the lead Audi R10 which he shares with Allan McNish, but the Italian's best lap was eight tenths of a second slower than Franchitti's overall pole.

The Audis managed to take a surprise 1-2 finish recently at St Petersburg, but Capello is not expecting a repeat performance around the tight Long Beach circuit.

"Tomorrow it won't be so easy to keep the pace of the LMP2 cars, which is completely different from St. Petersburg," he said.

"It's difficult to feel the grip. Every corner has different grip and our car is very difficult to drive because we have such great torque."

The second Audi of Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner is further back in sixth place, with the Acura of David Brabham, Stefan Johansson and Duncan Dayton in fifth.

Oliver Gavin took pole position in the two-car GT1 class, while Mika Salo took the GT2 pole in the Risi Competizione Ferrari.

Qualifying results:

Pos Cl Drivers ---------- -----------Car--------------------Time
1. P2 Herta/Franchitti ------------Acura/ARX-01a -------1:11.838
2. P2 Briscoe/Maassen -----------Porsche RS Spyder ---1:12.144
3. P2 Dumas/Bernhard -----------Porsche RS Spyder----1:12.247
4. P1 McNish/Capello ------------Audi R10 ---------------1:12.713
5. P2 Brabham/Johansson/Dayton--Acura/ARX-01a ----1:12.844
6. P1 Werner/Pirro ------------------Audi R10 -------------1:12.911
7. P2 Diaz/Fernandez ---------------Lola/B06-43/Acura ---1:13.148
8. P2 Leitzinger/Wallace------------Porsche RS Spyder----1:13.417
9. P2 Smith/Dyson -----------------Porsche RS Spyder 1:14.006
10. P1 Lewis/McMurry---------------Lola/EX257 AER---------1:17.158
11. GT1 Beretta/Gavin---------------Corvette C6.R-----------1:18.145
12. P1 Field/Berry/Field-------------Creation/CA06H/Judd---1:18.337
13. GT1 O'Connell/Magnussen------Corvette C6.R------------1:18.364
14. GT2 Melo/Salo -------------------Ferrari 430--------------- 1:20.916
15. GT2 Law/Long --------------------Porsche 911 GT3 RSR --1:21.209
16. GT2 van Overbeek/Bergmeister-Porsche 911 GT3 RSR --1:21.239
17. GT2 Bergmeister/Muller----------Ferrari 430GT -----------1:21.392
18. GT2 Henzler/Liddell ------------- Porsche 911 GT3 RSR ---1:21.563
19. GT2 Jonsson/Lazzaro ------------Ferrari 430GT ------------1:21.620
20. GT2 Kelleners/Milner ------------Porsche 911 GT3 RSR ---1:21.749
21. GT2 Farnbacher/Tafel -----------Porsche 911 GT3 RSR--- 1:21.804
22. GT2 Hand/Auberlen -------------Panoz Esperante GTLM --1:22.083
23. GT2 Smith/Maxwell/Sellers -----Panoz Esperante GTLM --1:22.620
24. P1 Graf/Pickett ------------------Lola B06/10 AER--------- 1:25.014
25. GT2 Pappas/Borcheller ----------Porsche 911 GT3 RSR ---1:25.211
26. P2 Bach/Devlin ------------------Lola/B07-40/Mazda ----- No Time

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