Sebring 12 Hours: Prime title contenders lock out front row

Ricky Taylor of Acura Team Penske took pole ahead of his father’s Cadillac driven by Renger van der Zande, setting up a thrilling start to tomorrow’s 2020 Sebring 12 Hours.

Taylor’s #7 Acura ARX-05 lapped the iconic 3.74-mile course in 1min46.874sec to beat Renger van der Zande’s Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R by a quarter second, as the two enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale just two points apart.

Dane Cameron missed out on making it an all-Acura front row by 0.015sec but claimed third ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in the JDC Miller Motorsports #5 entry.

A brave effort from Tincknell netted fifth spot for Mazda ahead of Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani, the second Mazda of Oliver Jarvis, and Matheus Leist in the second JDC Miller Cadillac.

In LMP2, Patrick Kelly put PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports on pole, 1.77sec faster than Naveen Rao in the Inter Europol Competition, with John Farano of Starworks and Don Yount of Performance Tech Motorsports in third and fourth respectively.

There was a surprise in GT Le Mans, as the Porsche 911 RSRs which had dominated practice were found down in fifth (Nick Tandy) and sixth (Neel Jani, 0.934sec slower ahead of his first GT race.)

Instead it was 2020 champion elect Antonio Garcia who delivered the top time – a 1min55.456sec – to deliver his second pole position of the season by a convincing 0.660sec ahead of Connor De Phillippi in the #25 BMW M8.

Jesse Krohn was a further 0.2sec down in the second BMW, but ahead of the second Corvette of Tommy Milner.

In GT Daytona, former Champ Car racer Jan Heylen got his tires up to temperature, delivered a stunning one-and-done flyer of 2min00.844 and then immediately pitted his Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R to leave his rivals to try and match it.

They didn’t come close, Andrew Davis finishing second but 0.7sec off in the Hardpoint Racing Audi R8, just enough to nip ahead of the fastest AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F, the #14 car of Aaron Telitz.

Richard Heistand was the fastest of the Lamborghini Huracan drivers, delivering P4 for Grasser Racing Team, while Cooper MacNeil did a fine recovery job after a spin to deliver fifth for Scuderia Corsa, ahead of the second Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo.

Robby Foley’s BMW M6 of Turner Motorsport will line up seventh ahead of Shinya Michimi who is hoping to help Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry earn GT Daytona championship honors this weekend in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX.

ClaNumDriverClassChassisTimeGap
17 Helio Castroneves
Ricky Taylor
Alexander Rossi
DPiAcura DPi1’46.874 
210 Renger van der Zande
Ryan Briscoe
Scott Dixon
DPiCadillac DPi1’47.1250.251
36 Juan Pablo Montoya
Dane Cameron
Simon Pagenaud
DPiAcura DPi1’47.1400.266
45 Sébastien Bourdais
Tristan Vautier
Loic Duval
DPiCadillac DPi1’47.2090.335
555 Jonathan Bomarito
Harry Tincknell
Ryan Hunter-Reay
DPiMazda DPi1’47.2450.371
631 Felipe Nasr
Pipo Derani
Gabby Chaves
DPiCadillac DPi1’47.3270.453
777 Oliver Jarvis
Tristan Nunez
Olivier Pla
DPiMazda DPi1’47.4740.600
885 Matheus Leist
Stephen Simpson
Scott Andrews
DPiCadillac DPi1’47.6960.822
952 Patrick Kelly
Simon Trummer
Scott Huffaker
LMP2ORECA LMP2 071’51.3734.499
1051 Jakub Smiechowski
Naveen Rao
Matthew Bell
LMP2ORECA LMP2 071’53.1476.273
1138 Don Yount
Patrick Byrne
Guy Cosmo
LMP2ORECA LMP2 071’54.0457.171
128 John Farano
Mikkel Jensen
David Heinemeier Hansson
LMP2ORECA LMP2 071’54.1947.320
133 Antonio Garcia
Jordan Taylor
Nick Catsburg
GTLMCorvette C8.R1’55.4568.582
1425 Bruno Spengler
Connor de Phillippi
Colton Herta
GTLMBMW M8 GTE1’56.1169.242
1524 Jesse Krohn
John Edwards
Augusto Farfus
GTLMBMW M8 GTE1’56.3169.442
164 Oliver Gavin
Tommy Milner
Marcel Fassler
GTLMCorvette C8.R1’56.4469.572
17911 Nick Tandy
Frédéric Makowiecki
Earl Bamber
GTLMPorsche 911 RSR – 191’56.8409.966
18912 Earl Bamber
Laurens Vanthoor
Neel Jani
GTLMPorsche 911 RSR – 191’57.77410.900
1916 Ryan Hardwick
Patrick Long
Jan Heylen
GTDPorsche 911 GT3 R2’00.84413.970
2030 Rob Ferriol
Andrew Davis
Pierre Kaffer
GTDAudi R8 LMS GT32’01.54614.672
2114 Jack Hawksworth
Aaron Telitz
Kyle Kirkwood
GTDLexus RC F GT32’01.60514.731
2211 Richard Heistand
Steijn Schothorst
Franck Perera
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT32’01.65214.778
2363 Cooper MacNeil
Alessandro Balzan
Jeff Westphal
GTDFerrari 488 GT32’01.80214.928
2412 Frankie Montecalvo
Townsend Bell
Michael de Quesada
GTDLexus RC F GT32’01.83914.965
2596 Nick Yelloly
Robby Foley
Dillon Machavern
GTDBMW M6 GT32’02.21015.336
2686 Mario Farnbacher
Matt McMurry
Shinya Michimi
GTDAcura NSX GT32’02.28615.412
2748 Bryan Sellers
Madison Snow
Corey Lewis
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT32’02.43515.561
2874 Gar Robinson
Lawson Aschenbach
Marc Miller
GTDMercedes-AMG GT32’02.68915.815
2923 Ian James
Roman De Angelis
Darren Turner
GTDAston Martin Vantage GT32’02.70515.831
3057 Trent Hindman
Mikhail Goikhberg
Joey Hand
GTDAcura NSX GT32’03.15316.279
3144 Andy Lally
John Potter
Spencer Pumpelly
GTDLamborghini Huracan GT32’04.36317.489
View full results

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