IMSA: Pla takes Sebring pole as Shank strikes back

Could this be a P2 year at Sebring?

For the second year in a row – albeit in a different car, and for a different team – Olivier Pla was the top qualifier Friday in the 64th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. With a lap of 1:51.217, Pla drove the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Tire Kingdom Ligier JS P2 Honda to a 0.174-second advantage over runner-up Pipo Derani, in the Rolex 24 at Daytona-winning Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Honda.

Related Stories

Last year, Pla qualified a Krohn Racing Ligier Judd at 1:51.152, just ahead of Ryan Dalziel, who was driving the Tequila Patron car. This year, the Krohn car isn't in the field, and Dalziel has moved to the No. 90 Visit Florida Chevrolet Corvette DP, which qualified sixth.
This year, third was the fastest Daytona Prototype, the No. 31 Whelen Action Express Chevrolet Corvette DP, driven by Dane Cameron to a best lap of 1:51.913. Fourth (1:52.205) was the team No. 5 Action Express Mustang Sampling Corvette with Christian Fittipaldi driving. Fifth was the faster of the two Mazda Prototypes, the No. 55 driven by Tristan Nunez (1:52.951).

In the tough GT Le Mans class, many of the competitors feel that the two BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLMs have the edge because of the current rules, and qualifying did nothing to discourage that notion: Bill Auberlen in the No. 25 car nipped the No. 100 team car, driven by John Edwards – Auberlen's best lap was 1:58.402, compared to Edwards' 1:58.592. It was, said Auberlen, "a picture-perfect day."

Third was the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE of Daniel Serra (1:58.637), and fourth was the No. 67 Ford GT driven by Richard Westbrook (1:58.708). Fifth and sixth were the two team Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs.

In Prototype Challenge, seven cars took time, with Colin Braun destroying the competition, as he has all during practice, in the No. 54 CORE Autosport spec ORECA FLM09/Chevrolet, with a fast lap of 1:54.910, close to a full second faster than second-place Tom Kimber-Smith (1:55.843) in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen entry.

Nineteen of the 20 GT Daytona cars took time – the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi had gearbox problems and will start from the rear. With practically the whole GTD field new this year thanks to the off-season adoption of the global GT3 rules, it was a tight battle up front, won by the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, thanks to Jeff Segal's best lap of 2:02.350.

The Ferrari 488 was delivered late to the teams, and Segal made a point of thanking his crew. "This is the result of a lot of work by everybody," he said.

Second in GTD was the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper GT3-R with Jeroen Bleekemolen behind the wheel (2:02.386), followed by the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 driven by Jens Klingmann. Fourth and fifth were the two Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3-Rs.

The weather forecast for Saturday shows a good chance of rain – which can certainly color the outcome of an endurance race like it did in the 2015 season-ender, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, where drenching rain favored the full-bodied cars – and a Porsche GTLM entry won. The Sebring forecast doesn't appear to be that wet, but it could make for a very interesting race.

Live coverage of the 64th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida begins at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1 and the Fox Sports GO app. Television coverage shifts to FS2 from Noon to 7 p.m.; continues on IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile app from 7-10 p.m., and concludes on FS2 from 10-11 p.m.