Audi heads first practice session ahead of the Sebring 12 Hours
Audi kept up its pre-race Sebring form by topping the weekend's opening practice session
Romain Dumas, in the #3 R18 he shares with Loic Duval and Timo Bernhard, set the pace with a 1m48.626s - a shade slower than the fastest time during testing, but enough to finish more than one second clear of the field.
Perhaps surprisingly given Audi's almost total lockout of the front three in testing, it was the ALMS-entered #6 Pickett Racing HPD of Lucas Luhr, Klaus Graf and Simon Pagenaud which carried the fight to the lead Audi.
Graf's best lap of 1m49.762s was enough for second, just over 0.3s ahead of Marcel Fassler in the #1 R18 he will share with Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.
The third R18 of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello could only manage fifth, more than 2.5s down on the overall pace. The trio had previously topped the times in two of the four tests.
In its absence, the #13 Rebellion Racing Lola scooped fourth with a 1m51.105s. The car is being shared by Andrea Belicchi, Harold Primat and Jeroen Bleekemolen.
Across in LMP2 the ALMS-entered #055 Level 5 Motorsports HPD of Scott Tucker, Christopher Bouchut and Joao Barbosa set the pace.
The #25 ADR-Delta ORECA-Nissan was second fastest, and hence top of the WEC-registered P2 entries. Robbie Kerr, John Martin and Tor Graves will share the car.
ALMS entries also led the way in GTE Pro, with Oliver Gavin's #4 Corvette leading the #56 RLL BMW M3 of Joey Hand, Dirk Muller and Jonathan Summerton.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander was the highest WEC entry in third.
Ferrari's 458 accounted for the fastest runner in the GTE-Am class, with the #58 Luxury Racing car of Pierre Ehret, Dominik Farnbacher and Francois Jakubowski finishing on top.
Practice 1 Results: Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time 1. P1 Bernhard/Dumas/Duval Audi 1m48.626s 2. P1 Graf/Luhr/Pagenaud Muscle Milk HPD 1m49.762s 3. P1 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi 1m50.113s 4. P1 Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m51.105s 5. P1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi 1m51.342s 6. P1 Baguette/Kraihamer/Moreau Oak Pescarolo-Judd 1m51.703s 7. P1 Heidfeld/Jani/Prost Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m52.276s 8. P2 Barbosa/Bouchut/Tucker Level 5 Motorsports HPD 1m52.680s 9. P1 Kane/Leventis/Watts Strakka HPD 1m52.720s 10. P2 Graves/Kerr/Martin ADR-DELTA ORECA-Nissan 1m53.084s 11. P1 Boullion/Collard/Jousse Pescarolo-Judd 1m53.664s 12. P2 Diaz/Hunter-Reay/Tucker Level 5 Motorsports HPD 1m53.664s 13. P2 Companc/Kaffer/Ayari Pecom ORECA-Nissan 1m54.500s 14. P2 Elton/Gonzalez/Zugel Greaves Sytek-Nissan 1m54.876s 15. P1 Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck JRM HPD 1m55.557s 16. PC Gidley/Guasch/Wills Muscle Milk ORECA FLM 1m55.881s 17. PC Friselle/Popow/Viso CORE ORECA FLM 1m56.018s 18. P1 Dyson/Smith/Kane Dyson Racing Lola B12 1m56.089s 19. P2 Curtis/Fogarty/Pappas Black Swan Lola B11 1m56.347s 20. P2 Dracone/Hansson/Plowman Conquest Morgan 1m56.853s 21. PC Matos/Nicolosi/Vera Performance ORECA FLM 1m56.878s 22. PC Dobson/Leitzinger/Junco PR1 ORECA FLM 1m56.927s 23. P2 Lombard/Mailleux/Tresson Signatech ORECA-Nissan 1m57.449s 24. PC Drissi/Gonzalez/Junqueira RSR Racing ORECA FLM 1m57.624s 25. PC Ducote/Echeverria/Sanchez Merchant ORECA FLM 1m57.814s 26. P2 Lahaye/Nicolet/Pla OAK Racing Morgan-Judd 1m58.710s 27. PC Cameron/Ende/Richard Dempsey ORECA FLM 1m59.306s 28. PC Downs/Marcelli/Stirling Merchant ORECA FLM 1m59.317s 29. PC Bennett/Braun/Lux CORE ORECA FLM 1m59.376s 30. P2 Fatien/Ihara/Johansson Gulf Racing Lola B12 1m59.826s 31. P2 Holzer/Moro/Shultis Lotus Lola B12 2m01.257s 32. GTE P Gavin/Milner/Westbrook Corvette 2m01.514s 33. GTE P Hand/Muller/Summerton BMW Team RLL 2m01.523s 34. GTE P Bruni/Fisichella/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 2m02.659s 35. GTE P Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci AF Corse Ferrari 2m01.690s 36. GTE P Makowiecki/Melo/Vernay Luxury Racing Ferrari 2m01.713s 37. GTE P Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor Corvette 2m02.980s 38. GTE P Lieb/Lietz/Pilet Felbermayr Porsche 2m02.030s 39. GTE P Bergmeister/Holzer/Long Flying Lizard Porsche 2m02.251s 40. GTE P Alzen/Auberlen/Muller BMW Team RLL 2m02.329s 41. GTE A Farnbacher/Ehret/Jakubowski Luxury Racing Ferrari 2m02.988s 42. GTE P Henzler/Ragginger/Sellers Team Falken Porsche 2m03.337s 43. GTE P Lally/Law/Neiman Flying Lizard Porsche 2m03.417s 44. GTE A Ried/Roda/Ruberti Felbermayr Porsche 2m03.512s 45. GTE P Brown/Lazzaro/Segal Extreme Speed Ferrari 2m03.694s 46. GTE A Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo Krohn Racing Ferrari 2m03.709s 47. GTE P Cosmo/Sharp/van Overbeek Extreme Speed Ferrari 2m04.809s 48. GTE P Bell/Maassen/Miller Paul Miller Porsche 2m04.317s 49. GTE A Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy Larbre Corvette 2m05.056s 50. GTE P Fernandez/Mucke/Turner Aston Martin Vantage 2m05.273s 51. GTE A Aguas/Kauffman/Waltrip AF Corse Ferrari 2m05.617s 52. GTE A Binnie/Palttala/Camathias JWA-Avila Porsche 2m06.395s 53. GTE A Belloc/Bourret/Gibon Larbre Corvette 2m07.173s 54. GTC Dumoulin/Keen/MacNeil Alex Job Porsche 2m07.308s 55. GTC Cisneros/Edwards/Kauffmann NGT Motorsport Porsche 2m07.623s 56. GTC Bunting/Di Guida/Pumpelly TRG Porsche 2m08.180s 57. GTC Bullitt/Cumming/Estre JDX Racing Porsche 2m09.317s 58. GTC Benitez Jr/Benitez Sr/Thiim NGT Motorsport Porsche 2m09.401s 59. GTC Sofronas/Villeneuve/Welch GMC Porsche 2m09.461s 60. GTC Bell/Sweedler/von Moltke Alex Job porsche 2m09.463s 61. GTC Bleekemolen/Faulkner/LeSaffre Green Hornet Porsche 2m09.507s 62. GTC Avenatti/Faieta/Wagner Competition Porsche 2m10.852s 63. P2 Giroix/Jousse/Charouz Gulf Racing Lola B12 2m14.823s 64. P2 Dalziel/Potolicchio/Sarrazin Starworks HPD 2m38.752s
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