By Gary Watkins
Thursday, January 22nd 2015, 23:06 GMT
The Michael Shank Racing Ligier LMP2 coupe claimed pole position for this weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours in the hands of Oswaldo Negri Jr.
The Brazilian took the top spot aboard his Honda-engined Ligier JSP2 with a best lap of 1m39.194s, which put him just over a tenth of a second clear of Scott Dixon’s 1m39.302s in the fastest of the two Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford EcoBoost DP.
Negri, who also set pole with MSR at Daytona in 2008, said: “I knew the DPs would get close in the cooler temperature, but I promise you that I took everything that the car had.
“Michael [Shank] was asking me for two tenths or three tenths, and I thought, ‘man! I had a few moments at the Bus Stop’.”
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Scott Pruett was third fastest in the second Ganassi Riley with a time just seven hundredths behind his team-mate.
Fourth place went to 2014 Daytona winner Action Express Racing, whose lead Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP ended up on a 1m39.568s in the hands of Joao Barbosa.
The DeltaWing-Elan/Mazda DWC ended up fifth with Andy Meyrick driving, while Olivier Pla was sixth in Krohn Racing’s Ligier-Judd/BMW.
Ricky Taylor, in seventh position aboard the Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP, was the last car to qualify within a second of the pole.
GAVIN PUTS CORVETTE ON GTLM POLE
GT Le Mans honours went to Oliver Gavin in the best of the Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs ahead of Gianmaria Bruni’s AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia.
Team-mate Jan Magnussen towed Gavin around to a 1m43.488s, which put him nearly four tenths clear of Bruni on a 1m43.830s.
Gavin, who had just claimed his first USC pole, said: “I didn’t think we had the overall pace to get pole, but everything fell into place with the tyre pressures and temperatures.
“Jan gave me the perfect tow when everything was at its peak.”
Pedro Lamy ended up third fastest in the the solo factory Aston Martin Vantage GTE with a time of 1m43.960s.
John Edwards was fourth fastest in the best of the Rahal BMW Z4 GTEs, while Magnussen was fifth despite a tow from Gavin over the second half of the session.
The two factory Porsche 911 RSRs run by CORE Autosport, which had topped times at the pre-event test earlier in the month, ended up only eighth and 10th in the hands of Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki, with Bryan Sellers sandwiched between them in the Falken Tire Porsche.
Johnny Mowlem came out on top in a fierce qualifying battle with Colin Braun to snatch pole for the Prototype Challenge class aboard his BAR1 Motorsports ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09.
His final lap of 1m43.318s eclipsed the CORE Autosport driver’s best of 1m42.498s.
James Davison claimed his fifth straight USC pole position in the GT Daytona class aboard the lead Aston Martin V12 Vantage run by The Racers Group.
The Australian did only one flying lap because he was waiting in the pits when the red flag came out, but he was able to eclipse Jeroen Bleekemolen’s best in his Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R by less than two tenths of a second.
QUALIFYING TIMES:
Pos
Class
Driver
Team
Car
Time
Gap
1
P
J.Pew, O.Negri, A.Allmendinger, M.McMurry
Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
Ligier/HPD
1m39.194s
-
2
P
S.Dixon, T.Kanaan, K.Larson, J.McMurray
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Riley/Ford
1m39.302s
0.108s
3
P
S.Pruett, J.Hand, C.Kimball, S.Karam
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Riley/Ford
1m39.309s
0.115s
4
P
J.Barbosa, C.Fittipaldi, S.Bourdais
Action Express Racing
Corvette/Chevrolet
1m39.568s
0.374s
5
P
M.Rojas, K.Legge, G.Chaves, A.Meyrick
Claro / TracFone DeltaWing Racing
DeltaWing/Elan
1m39.625s
0.431s
6
P
T.Krohn, O.Pla, N.Jonsson, A.Brundle
Krohn Racing
Ligier/Judd
1m39.683s
0.489s
7
P
J.Taylor, R.Taylor, M.Angelelli
Wayne Taylor Racing
Corvette/Chevrolet
1m39.888s
0.694s
8
P
B.Hartley, R.Barrichello, R.H.-Reay, T.Graves, S.Mayer
Starworks Motorsport
Riley/BMW
1m40.260s
1.066s
9
P
E.Curran, D.Cameron, M.Papis, P.Keen
Action Express Racing
Corvette/Chevrolet
1m40.322s
1.128s
10
P
R.Westbrook, M.Valiante, M.Rockenfeller
visitflorida.com Racing
Corvette/Chevrolet
1m40.330s
1.136s
11
P
R.Gewirtz, S.Lewis, M.Kvamme, D.Cheng
RG Racing
Riley/BMW
1m42.070s
2.876s
12
PC
J.Mowlem, T.Papadopoulos, T.Drissi, B.Alder, M.Plowman
BAR1 Motorsports
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m42.318s
3.124s
13
P
E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, J.Fogarty
Tequila Patron ESM
HPD
1m42.390s
3.196s
14
PC
J.Bennett, C.Braun, M.Wilkins, J.Gue
Core Autosport
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m42.498s
3.304s
15
PC
M.Guasch, A.Novich, A.Palmer, T.K.-Smith
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m42.829s
3.635s
16
PC
M.Schultis, R.van der Zande, A.Popow, M.Hedlund, F.Albuquerque
Starworks Motorsport
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m43.322s
4.128s
17
PC
M.Plowman, M.Drumwright, I.Breukers, S.Blackstock, R.Ruscitti
BAR1 Motorsports
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m43.442s
4.248s
18
GTLM
O.Gavin, T.Milner, S.Pagenaud
Corvette Racing
Chevrolet
1m43.488s
4.294s
19
PC
M.Goikhberg, C.Miller, S.Simpson, R.Mitchell
JDC/Miller Motorsports
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m43.514s
4.320s
20
P
J.Bomarito, T.Nunez, J.Hinchcliffe, S.Tremblay
Speedsource
Mazda
1m43.782s
4.588s
21
GTLM
F.Perrodo, E.Collard, G.Bruni, T.Vilander
AF Corse
Ferrari
1m43.830s
4.636s
22
GTLM
P.Lamy, P.D.Lana, D.Turner, S.Mucke, M.Lauda
Aston Martin Racing
Aston Martin
1m43.960s
4.766s
23
GTLM
J.M.Edwards, L.Luhr, J.Klingmann, G.Rahal
BMW Team RLL
BMW
1m43.966s
4.772s
24
GTLM
J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, R.Briscoe
Corvette Racing
Chevrolet
1m43.976s
4.782s
25
GTLM
P.Kaffer, D.Rigon, G.Fisichella, O.Beretta
Risi Competizione
Ferrari
1m43.986s
4.792s
26
PC
C.Cumming, B.Junqueira, J.Hawksworth, G.Menezes
RSR Racing
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m43.992s
4.798s
27
GTLM
B.Auberlen, D.Werner, A.Farfus, B.Spengler
BMW Team RLL
BMW
1m44.024s
4.830s
28
GTLM
N.Tandy, P.Pilet, M.Lieb
Porsche North America
Porsche
1m44.082s
4.888s
29
P
J.Pace, B.Defoor, D.Hinton, D.Schroeder
Riley/BMW
1m44.423s
5.229s
30
GTLM
W.Henzler, B.Sellers, P.Long
Team Falken Tire
Porsche
1m44.465s
5.271s
31
PC
J.French, J.Mee, J.Vance, S.Johnston
Performance Tech Motorsports
Oreca/Chevrolet
1m44.473s
5.279s
32
GTLM
J.Bergmeister, E.Bamber, F.Makowiecki
Porsche North America
Porsche
1m44.759s
5.565s
33
GTD
C.Nielsen, J.Davison, C.Nygaard, B.Davis
TRG-AMR
Aston Martin
1m47.272s
8.078s
34
P
J.Miller, T.Long, B.Devlin, S.Tremblay
Speedsource
Mazda
1m47.320s
8.126s
35
GTD
B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, A.Carter, M.Goossens, S.Bleekemolen
Riley Motorsports
Dodge
1m47.424s
8.230s
36
GTD
K.Bachler, C.Zochling, C.Engelhart, L.Willsey, R.Ineichen
Konrad Motorsport
Porsche
1m47.451s
8.257s
37
GTD
M.Snow, J.Heylen, P.Dempsey, P.Eng
Wright Motorsports
Porsche
1m47.535s
8.341s
38
GTD
F.Longo, D.Serra, M.Gomes, A.Bertolini
Scuderia Corsa
Ferrari
1m47.805s
8.611s
39
GTD
M.Winkelhock, R.Thorne, S.Hoshino, T.Fujii
Flying Lizard Motorsports
Audi
1m47.813s
8.619s
40
GTD
P.Lindsey, S.Pumpelly, J.Norman, D.Ducote, K.Estre
Park Place Motorsports
Porsche
1m47.860s
8.666s
41
GTD
J.Potter, A.Lally, M.Seefried, M.Ragginger
Magnus Racing
Porsche
1m48.099s
8.905s
42
GTD
B.Sweedler, T.Bell, A.Lazzaro, J.Segal
Scuderia Corsa
Ferrari
1m48.117s
8.923s
43
GTD
C.MacNeil, L.Keen, A.Davis, S.Gisbergen
Alex Job Racing
Porsche
1m48.200s
9.006s
44
GTD
C.Haase, B.Miller, D.von Moltke, R.Rast
Paul Miller Racing
Audi
1m48.202s
9.008s
45
GTD
P.Lathouras, M.Rugolo, R.Aguas, M.Griffin
AF Corse
Ferrari
1m48.614s
9.420s
46
GTD
I.James, M.Farnbacher, A.Riberas
Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing
Porsche
1m48.683s
9.489s
47
GTD
J.Michaelian, M.Beretta, C.De Phillippi, R.Flores
Muehlner Motorsports America
Porsche
1m49.035s
9.841s
48
GTD
D.O’Young, M.Lira, M.Basseng, C.De Phillippi, N.M.-Melnhof
Muehlner Motorsports America
Porsche
1m49.291s
10.097s
49
GTD
B.Keating, D.Farnbacher, A.Carter, K.Wittmer, C.Lawrence
Riley Motorsports
Dodge
1m49.512s
10.318s
50
GTD
M.Marsal, M.Palttala, A.Priaulx, B.Said
Turner Motorsport
BMW
1m50.213s
11.019s
51
GTD
D.Faulkner, K.Giermaziak, M.Skeen, R.Butcher, M.Avenatti
GB Autosport
Porsche
-
-
52
P
S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.Hansson
Tequila Patron ESM
HPD
-
-
53
GTD
D.DeBoer, M.Riddle, E.Salazar
TRG-AMR
Aston Martin
-
-
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