Bourdais, who won the race last year racing the JDC Miller MotorSports Cadillac, delivered a 1min45.166 in Chip Ganassi Racing’s #01 Cadillac DPi-V.R to eclipse the existing lap record by over two-tenths of a second, but shade his nearest opposition by only 0.026sec. Impressively, the top four cars were under the lap record, and covered by only 0.157sec.
Bourdais took only two laps to warm up his tires and deliver his knockout blow to the opposition, ensuring the car he shares full-time with Renger van der Zande and, this weekend, former IndyCar rival Ryan Hunter-Reay, will lead the field to the green in the 70th Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Pipo Derani in the Action Express Racing #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac, kept whittling away at Bourdais’ margin, until he was just two and a half hundredths slower. Although he fell short, he still managed to get ahead of a very brave effort by Ricky Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05, which shaded Alex Lynn’s best effort in the second Ganassi Caddy by a mere couple of hundredths.
Mike Rockenfeller was 0.4sec off pole in the second AXR entry, the Ally Cadillac, while Tom Blomqvist was a full second down in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura.
Tristan Vautier, driving the JDC Miller MotorSports Cadillac spun out of Turn 1 with 10 minutes remaining in the LMP1/LMP2 quali session, dropping his right-side wheels off the course on corner exit, which sent the car back to the inside where the Mustang Sampling car struck the Armco barrier on the inside. The impact wiped off the splitter and ended the session early for the defending race winning team, consigning it to seventh on the grid.
Ben Keating did his traditional fine job to claim pole in LMP2 in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry, with Henrik Hedman second for DragonSpeed but six-tenths slower. He was nonetheless a tenth up on the second PR1 Mathiasen car, driven by Steven Thomas, while Dwight Merriman completed the top four in the Era Motorsport entry.
A genuinely exciting battle for LMP3 pole emerged as series newcomer Harry Gottsacker’s Muehlner Motorsports Duqueine battled with Gar Robinson in the Riley Motorsports Ligier and the similar car of Andretti Autosport, wheeled by Jarett Andretti.
The latter seemed to have put the matter beyond doubt with a 1min57.234, at which point he was 0.376sec ahead of the field, but Robinson fell less than a tenth short with his penultimate lap and wasn’t about to give up. He rode his bucking Ligier past the checkered flag with a 1min57.048sec, and although Andretti did his utmost on his final lap, he fell just 0.035sec short.
Their battle pulled them over half a second clear of Gottsacker who nonetheless pipped FastMD racing’s Max Hanratty to third, while Dan Goldburg of Performance Tech Motorsports and George Kurtz of CORE autosport was sixth.
Combined GT class qualifying was brought to a halt when John Potter’s Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage ground to a halt at Turn 10, causing a red flag. Six cars – the #66, #28, #21, #47, #42 and #97 – had to serve a drive-through penalty for lining up at pit exit to wait for the session to resume, which is not allowed under IMSA’s rules. When the session resumed with barely more than five minutes to go, that sextet, after serving the penalty, would have just time to get their tires up to temp and set one flying lap.
This was irrelevant to Daniel Serra, who delivered a 1min49.414sec for Risi Competizione to put the #62 Ferrari 488 at the top of the GTD Pro times, a mere 0.017sec faster than Mirko Bortolotti in the TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan.
Next up was Zacharie Robichon, who by being third overall in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, was fastest of the GTD class, just 0.025sec ahead of Robbie Foley in the Turner Motorsports BMW M4.
Russell Ward, who suffered a shunt yesterday, rebounded in impressive style to take third in GTD driving the Winward Mercedes AMG GT3, while Madison Snow was fourth in GTD, sixth overall, in Paul Miller Racing’s first event with a BMW M4.
Behind him in fifth was the Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488, Giorgio Sernagiotto proving fastest of the cars that had had to serve a drive-through penalty.
Third in GTD Pro, but eighth overall was Antonio Garcia in the Corvette C8.R, which IMSA Radio revealed has received a 20hp boost, as IMSA fettles the Balance of Performance for a car that is only 1 race into its evolution as a GT3 machine.
Alex Riberas did his usual stout job in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage to clock fourth best time in GTD Pro, ahead of Matt Campbell’s Pfaff Porsche, Aaron Telitz in the #14 Lexus RC F, and Nick Yelloly in the fastest of the works BMW M4s.
| Cla | Num | Driver | Class | Chassis | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 |
 Renger van der Zande  Sébastien Bourdais  Ryan Hunter-Reay
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'45.166 | |
| 2 | 31 |
 Pipo Derani Tristan Nunez  Mike Conway
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'45.192 | 0.026 |
| 3 | 10 |
Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque Will Stevens
| DPi | Acura DPi | 1'45.301 | 0.135 |
| 4 | 02 |
 Earl Bamber Alex Lynn  Neel Jani
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'45.323 | 0.157 |
| 5 | 48 |
 Mike Rockenfeller  Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'45.576 | 0.410 |
| 6 | 60 |
Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist  Stoffel Vandoorne
| DPi | Acura DPi | 1'46.249 | 1.083 |
| 7 | 52 |
Ben Keating  Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker
| LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'49.954 | 4.788 |
| 8 | 81 |
 Henrik Hedman  Juan Pablo Montoya Sebastian Montoya
| LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'50.592 | 5.426 |
| 9 | 11 |
Steven Thomas Josh Pierson Jonathan Bomarito
| LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'50.732 | 5.566 |
| 10 | 5 |
Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook Loic Duval
| DPi | Cadillac DPi | 1'51.338 | 6.172 |
| 11 | 18 |
Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel
| LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'51.584 | 6.418 |
| 12 | 29 |
Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Dylan Murry
| LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'51.679 | 6.513 |
| 13 | 8 |
 John Farano Louis Deletraz Rui Andrade
| LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'51.890 | 6.724 |
| 14 | 20 |
Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach Fabio Scherer
| LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'52.507 | 7.341 |
| 15 | 22 |
Jim McGuire Guy Smith Duncan Tappy | LMP2 | ORECA LMP2 07 | 1'53.209 | 8.043 |
| 16 | 74 |
Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Kay van Berlo
| LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'57.048 | 11.882 |
| 17 | 36 |
Jarett Andretti Josh Burdon Gabby Chaves
| LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'57.083 | 11.917 |
| 18 | 6 |
Efrin Castro Moritz Kranz Ugo De | LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 1'57.610 | 12.444 |
| 19 | 40 |
Max Hanratty Todd Archer James Vance
| LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 1'57.719 | 12.553 |
| 20 | 38 |
Daniel Goldburg Rasmus Lindh  Cameron Shields
| LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'58.087 | 12.921 |
| 21 | 54 |
Jon Bennett Colin Braun George Kurtz
| LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'58.717 | 13.551 |
| 22 | 62 |
Daniel Serra  Davide Rigon Eddie Cheever III
| GTD PRO | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'59.414 | 14.248 |
| 23 | 63 |
Marco Mapelli Andrea Caldarelli Mirko Bortolotti
| GTD PRO | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 1'59.431 | 14.265 |
| 24 | 16 |
Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Jan Heylen
| GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'59.763 | 14.597 |
| 25 | 33 |
Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen Lance Willsey
| LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 1'59.781 | 14.615 |
| 26 | 96 |
Robby Foley Bill Auberlen Michael Dinan | GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'59.788 | 14.622 |
| 27 | 57 |
Russell Ward Philip Ellis Marvin Dienst
| GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1'59.848 | 14.682 |
| 28 | 1 |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Erik Johansson
| GTD | BMW M4 GT3 | 1'59.898 | 14.732 |
| 29 | 47 |
Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco
| GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1'59.917 | 14.751 |
| 30 | 3 |
 Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg
| GTD PRO | Corvette C8.R GTD | 1'59.927 | 14.761 |
| 31 | 23 |
Ross Gunn Alex Riberas Maxime Martin
| GTD PRO | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 1'59.957 | 14.791 |
| 32 | 9 |
Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr
| GTD PRO | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'59.982 | 14.816 |
| 33 | 14 |
Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat Aaron Telitz
| GTD PRO | Lexus RC F GT3 | 2'00.002 | 14.836 |
| 34 | 24 |
 Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann Nick Yelloly
| GTD PRO | BMW M4 GT3 | 2'00.031 | 14.865 |
| 35 | 32 |
Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer Daniel Juncadella
| GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'00.176 | 15.010 |
| 36 | 21 |
Simon Mann Luis Perez Companc  Toni Vilander
| GTD | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 2'00.203 | 15.037 |
| 37 | 30 |
Ari Balogh Garett Grist Dakota Dickerson
| LMP3 | Ligier JS P320 | 2'00.230 | 15.064 |
| 38 | 25 |
Connor de Phillippi John Edwards Augusto Farfus
| GTD PRO | BMW M4 GT3 | 2'00.460 | 15.294 |
| 39 | 13 |
Orey Fidani Kuno Wittmer Lars Kern
| LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 2'00.487 | 15.321 |
| 40 | 93 |
Ashton Harrison-Henry Kyle Marcelli Tom Long
| GTD PRO | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'00.605 | 15.439 |
| 41 | 7 |
Mark Kvamme Anthony Mantella
| LMP3 | Duqueine D08 | 2'00.624 | 15.458 |
| 42 | 28 |
Michael de Quesada Daniel Morad Maximillian Goetz | GTD | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'00.919 | 15.753 |
| 43 | 79 |
Cooper MacNeil Julien Andlauer Alessio Picariello
| GTD PRO | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2'00.951 | 15.785 |
| 44 | 59 |
Jon Miller Patrick Gallagher Paul Holton
| GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 2'01.287 | 16.121 |
| 45 | 66 |
Kyffin Simpson Till Bechtolsheimer Mario Farnbacher
| GTD | Acura NSX GT3 | 2'01.352 | 16.186 |
| 46 | 12 |
Frankie Montecalvo Scott Andrews Richard Heistand
| GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | 2'01.536 | 16.370 |
| 47 | 97 |
Cooper MacNeil Jules Gounon Maro Engel
| GTD PRO | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 2'01.947 | 16.781 |
| 48 | 39 |
Robert Megennis Corey Lewis Jeff Westphal
| GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 2'01.973 | 16.807 |
| 49 | 27 |
Roman De Angelis Ian James Tom Gamble
| GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 2'02.271 | 17.105 |
| 50 | 42 |
Don Yount Jaden Conwright  Mateo Llarena
| GTD | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 2'05.834 | 20.668 |
| 51 | 44 |
John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly
| GTD | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 0.000 | |
| 52 | 70 |
Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy  Jordan Lee Pepper
| GTD | McLaren 720S GT3 | 0.000 | |
| 53 | 99 |
Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Stefan Wilson
| GTD | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 0.000 | |
| View full results | ||||||
