Pipo Derani put the #31 Whelen/ Action Express Cadillac DPi on overall pole position for tomorrow’s 2021 Sebring 12 Hours, the Brazilian breaking the Qualifying lap record with a 1:45.354 just a tenth ahead of Ricky Taylor in the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX 05 after a near session long duel between the pair.
Renger van der Zande would qualify the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac third, ahead of the #55 Mazda of Oliver Jarvis and the Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Olivier Pla.
The major drama of the session though would see Jimmie Johnson making major contact with the wall at T17 after losing control over the bumps, the driver seemingly unhurt, the #48 Cadillac rather less fortunate .
That’s not good 😬
Jimmie Johnson goes for a spin and crash during qualifying for the 12 Hours of Sebring. pic.twitter.com/TTSwMmVOcG
— UNB! Motorsports (@UNBMotorsports) March 19, 2021
The #11 WIN Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson of Steven Thomas took LMP2 pole with a 1:51.025, just over a tenth clear of Ben Keating in the #52 PR1/ Mathiesen Oreca.
LMP3 also saw a very competitive session as Rasmus Lindh continued the form he showed in racing at Sebring last week, setting the class pole for the #38 Performance Tech Ligier and edging out the late efforts of Oliver Askew in the #7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine.
GT Classes
Corvette Racing’s ‘Silver Machine’ C8.Rs posted a 1,2 with Antonio Garcia scoring pole in GTLM, the #3 Corvette man finishing the session with a 1:54.927, just 34 thousandths faster than Tommy Milner.
The BMW pair were next up, the #25 M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi third, Jesse Krohhn’s sister #24 completing the second row of the class with Cooper MacNeil’s #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 completing the order.
GTD
The new twin session GTD qualifying format saw the #19 GRT Lamborghini of Tim Zimmermann take pole via session one, and the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Jack Hawksworth score top points in session two.
Jan Heylen battled to the end of the session for the pole but fell just short in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche with a late improvement from Daniel Morad vaulting his #28 Alegra Motorsports AMG to third fastest right at the end of the session.
UPDATE: A post-session technical violation saw the #19 loose pole to the #16 Porsche.
The second, All-Pro session saw Hawksworth’s 1:59.247 fend off Laurens Vanthoor’s best shot in the #9 Pfaff Porsche in the points chase.
