ALMS: St Petersburg

[Plex]

De Ferran Acura takes another pole

De Ferran Motorsports driver Simon Pagenaud dominated qualifying for the second round of the American Le Mans Series at St Petersburg, leading an Acura one-two-three.

Pagenaud took provisional pole from Highcroft's Scott Sharp - who was carrying out the qualifying duties normally performed by team-mate David Brabham - early in the prototype session and then extended his advantage to nearly a second.

The result gave De Ferran a second straight pole after Scott Dixon had topped the Sebring grid for the team.

"Today the car is absolutely fantastic," said Pagenaud. "After practice I said 'don't change anything, it's going to be okay'. We put new tyres on and the car was amazingly fast in the first few laps."

Only 17 cars took part in qualifying, a record low for the ALMS. The championship has been hit hard by the economic crisis during the winter, with teams pulling out across all four classes. The two prototype classes have only three entries apiece at St Petersburg, and there are no GT1 cars at all.

Luis Diaz took third overall and LMP2 pole for Fernandez Acura, ahead of the two Dyson Lola-Mazdas. Guy Smith eventually took fourth from team-mate Marino Franchitti and narrowed the gap to Diaz to 0.286 seconds by the end of the session.

Chapman Ducote was a distant sixth in the Intersport Lola, the only other prototype in the field.

Jaime Melo put the Risi Ferrari on GT2 pole, beating Wolf Henzler's Farnbacher Loles Porsche by 0.3s.

"This is a really tough track and it's really important to start from pole," said Melo. "I didn't get a very good lap but it was enough to get pole. It's a track where you have to take so many risks, especially in qualifying."

The new Rahal Letterman BMWs showed much better form at St Petersburg than they had at Sebring, with Joey Hand and Dirk Muller taking third and fourth places in class, ahead of Patrick Long's Flying Lizard Porsche.

Pos Cl Drivers Car Time
1. P1 De Ferran/Pagenaud Acura ARX 02a 1:03.776
2. P1 Brabham/Sharp Acura ARX 02a 1:04.722
3. P2 Fernandez/Diaz Acura ARX-01B 1:05.178
4. P2 Dyson/Smith Lola B09 86 Mazda 1:05.464
5. P2 Leitzinger/Franchitti Lola B09 86 Mazda 1:05.666
6. P1 Field/Field/Ducote Lola B06/10 1:09.044
7. GT2 Melo/Kaffer Ferrari 430 1:12.892
8. GT2 Henzler/Werner Porsche 911 RSR 1:13.173
9. GT2 Hand/Auberlen BMW E92 M3 1:13.267
10. GT2 Mueller/Milner BMW E92 M3 1:13.458
11. GT2 Bergmeister/Long Porsche 911 RSR 1:13.465
12. GT2 Farnbacher/James Panoz Esperante 1:14.109
13. GT2 Murry/Robertson Doran Ford GT-R 1:14.281
14. GT2 Gigliotti/Curran Chevrolet Riley Corvette 1:14.633
15. GT2 Feinberg/Hall Dodge Viper 1:15.938
16. GT2 Sutherland/Phinney Panoz Esperante 1:15.996
17. GT2 Law/Neiman Porsche 911 RSR 1:18.592

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[Plex]

Highcroft gives LMP1 Acura first win

Highcroft Racing's David Brabham and Scott Sharp took the new Acura LMP1's first victory in round two of the American Le Mans Series at St Petersburg.

With the Acuras by far the fastest machines in the disappointing 17-car entry - an all-time low for the championship - it was always likely that either Highcroft or De Ferran Motorsports would give the company its maiden LMP1 win at the Florida street track.

At first it looked like De Ferran would have that honour, as owner/driver Gil de Ferran stormed away from Sharp at up to one second per lap in the opening stint. Sharp was then further delayed with a trip off the road, briefly dropping him behind the LMP2 Fernandez Acura, although he narrowed the gap back to under 10 seconds as the leaders hit traffic.

Highcroft then benefited from the timing of the race's only caution. Although Duncan Dayton's team had a slow stop and fell back behind the Fernandez car, it was able to make its driver change under yellow, whereas De Ferran had stopped just before the pace car came out.

When racing resumed with 47 minutes to go, Adrian Fernandez briefly led overall before Brabham put the LMP1 Acura back in front. De Ferran's victory hopes ended soon afterwards when the car developed recurring electrical problems and tumbled down the order.

While Brabham and Fernandez cruised home to clinch first and second overall, and both prototype class victories, the two Dyson Lola-Mazdas made it to the finish in third and fourth, despite a warm-up crash for Chris Dyson and an early spin by Marino Franchitti.

The early GT2 leaders all hit trouble before half-distance. Pierre Kaffer led from pole at first in the Risi Ferrari, but after briefly falling behind Bill Auberlen's BMW, Farnbacher Loles Porsche driver Wolf Henzler hunted down and passed the Sebring class winner within 11 laps.

However none of the trio made it much further. Kaffer suffered a suspension failure, the BMW failed to restart after its pitstop, and Henzler lost 12 laps due to damage from a severe puncture.

That allowed the Flying Lizard Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long to take a comfortable victory. Dirk Muller and Tom Milner fought through to a distant second in the new Rahal Letterman BMW, battling past the PTG Panoz and the LG Riley Corvette after losing ground during the stops.

Pos Cl Drivers Car Time
1. LMP1 Brabham/Sharp Acura ARX-02a 1h55m53.705s
2. LMP2 Fernandez/Diaz Acura ARX-01b + 32.150s
3. LMP2 Dyson/Smith Mazda Lola B09 86 + 1 laps
4. LMP2 Leitzinger/Franchitti Mazda Lola B09 86 + 2 laps
5. GT2 Bergmeister/Long Porsche 911 GT3 + 5 laps
6. LMP1 Field/Field/Ducote Lola B06/10 AER + 5 laps
7. GT2 Mueller/Milner BMW E92 M3 + 7 laps
8. GT2 Farnbacher/James Panoz Esperante + 7 laps
9. GT2 Gigliotti/Curran Riley Corvette C6 + 8 laps
10. GT2 Neiman/Law Porsche 911 GT3 + 9 laps
11. GT2 Robertson/Murry Doran Ford GT MK 7 + 10 laps
12. GT2 Werner/Henzler Porsche 911 GT3 + 19 laps
13. LMP1 de Ferran/Pagenaud Acura ARX-02a + 27 laps
14. GT2 Feingerg/Hall Dodge Viper + 55 laps
15. GT2 Sutherland/Phinney Panoz Esperante + 55 laps
16. GT2 Auberlen/Hand BMW E92 M3 + 65 laps
17. GT2 Melo/Kaffer Ferrari 430 GT + 66 laps

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