Sebring 12 Hours: Cameron grabs pole for Acura Team Penske

Cameron, in the car he’ll share with Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud, lapped the 3.74-mile airport course in 1min45.865sec to score his first-ever pole in the IMSA Prototype category.

He beat both his teammate Helio Castroneves and Mazda Team Joest’s Tristan Nunez by 0.146sec, but the fact that Nunez set his time before Castroneves means the #77 Mazda will split the Acuras on the grid.

The second Mazda RT24-P, driven by Jonathan Bomarito, set the fastest time in the first sector but couldn’t put a strong lap together and will start seventh.

That leaves him separated from his teammate by the two Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.Rs and the similar machine of Wayne Taylor Racing.

The two JDC-Miller Caddys beat Juncos Racing’s Will Owen to claim eighth and ninth.

Jon Bennett, who traditionally starts for CORE autosport, was 4sec off the fastest Prototype, and was separated from the penultimate car by the two LMP2 Orecas.

That two-car class battle was surprisingly close, and was settled in Matt McMurry’s favor when he drove the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport car just 0.011sec faster than Kyle Masson in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry.

#911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR, GTLM: Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy, Frederic Makowiecki

Photo by: Scott R LePage / LAT Images

In GT Le Mans, Patrick Pilet led Laurens Vanthoor in a 1-2 for the Porsche 911 RSRs, 0.143sec apart, to grab pole position with a 1min55.899sec lap in the car he’ll share with Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki.

Reigning GTLM champ Antonio Garcia was third fastest in the #3 Corvette C7.R, a quarter-second off pole and just 0.031sec faster than the Ford GT of Richard Westbrook, which beat the second ’Vette of Tommy Milner by just 0.059sec.

Astonishingly, Jesse Krohn and Tom Blomqvist set identical times in the BMW M8s, 0.587sec off Pilet’s pole-winning time, and a quarter second ahead of Dirk Muller’s Ford.

#86 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX: Trent Hindman, Mario Farnbacher, Justin Marks

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Trent Hindman delivered a knife-between-the-teeth performance to duck the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX under the two-minute barrier and grab pole position in GT Daytona.

Driving the car he’ll share with Mario Farnbacher and Justin Marks, Hindman produced a 1min59.917sec to eclipse his nearest rival – the ever-surprising Turner Motorsport BMW M6 of Robbie Foley – by 0.382sec.

Zacharie Robichon was third quickest in the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, equidistant behind Foley and ahead of Rolf Ineichen’s Grass Racing Lamborghini.

Ineichen claimed fastest Lambo honors by only 0.065sec, as the Precision Performance Motorsports Huracan – rebuilt after Don Yount’s shunt yesterday – was fifth fastest in the hands of Brandon Gdovic. Sixth went to two-time GTD champion Christina Nielsen in the second MSR Acura.

Cooper MacNeil drove WeatherTech Racing’s Ferrari 488 – the only Ferrari in the field – to seventh, to edge ahead of Frankie Montecalvo in the faster of the two Lexus RC Fs of AIM Vasser-Sullivan.

The second Lexus had its times deleted when a team member put his hands on the car during the session - a no-no under IMSA regulations.

The Mercedes AMG-GT3s haven’t looked ultimate pacesetters this week, but Ben Keating qualified ninth in the Riley Motorsports entry, fast enough to beat the Audis of Montaplast by Land Motorsport (Daniel Morad) and Starworks Motorsport (Ezequiel Perez Companc).

Qualifying times:

Pos.	No.	Drivers	Class	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	6	Juan Pablo Montoya Simon Pagenaud Dane Cameron	DPi	Acura DPi	1'45.865
2	77	Oliver Jarvis Timo Bernhard Tristan Nunez	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'46.011	0.146
3	7	Alexander Rossi Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor	DPi	Acura DPi	1'46.011	0.146
4	5	Brendon Hartley Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'46.238	0.373
5	31	Pipo Derani Eric Curran Felipe Nasr	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'46.354	0.489
6	10	Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande Matthieu Vaxiviere	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'46.530	0.665
7	55	Harry Tincknell Olivier Pla Jonathan Bomarito	DPi	Mazda DPi	1'46.832	0.967
8	84	Simon Trummer Chris Miller Stephen Simpson	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'47.086	1.221
9	85	Juan Piedrahita Mikhail Goikhberg Tristan Vautier	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'47.275	1.410
10	50	Rene Binder Will Owen Agustin Canapino	DPi	Cadillac DPi	1'47.478	1.613
11	52	Matt McMurry Anders Fjordbach Gabriel Aubry	LMP2	ORECA LMP2	1'49.728	3.863
12	38	Kyle Masson Cameron Cassels Andrew Evans	LMP2	ORECA LMP2	1'49.739	3.874
13	54	Romain Dumas Jon Bennett Colin Braun	DPi	Nissan DPi	1'50.029	4.164
14	911	Nick Tandy Patrick Pilet Frédéric Makowiecki	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'55.899	10.034
15	912	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Mathieu Jaminet	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	1'56.042	10.177
16	3	Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'56.158	10.293
17	67	Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Richard Westbrook	GTLM	Ford GT	1'56.189	10.324
18	4	Marcel Fassler Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	GTLM	Corvette C7.R	1'56.248	10.383
19	24	John Edwards Jesse Krohn Philipp Eng	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'56.486	10.621
20	25	Connor de Phillippi Tom Blomqvist Colton Herta	GTLM	BMW M8 GTE	1'56.486	10.621
21	66	Sébastien Bourdais Joey Hand Dirk Muller	GTLM	Ford GT	1'56.731	10.866
22	86	Justin Marks Mario Farnbacher Trent Hindman	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	1'59.917	14.052
23	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Dillon Machavern	GTD	BMW M6 GT3	2'00.299	14.434
24	9	Scott Hargrove Lars Kern Zacharie Robichon	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	2'00.504	14.639
25	11	Rolf Ineichen Mirko Bortolotti Rik Breukers	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	2'00.710	14.845
26	47	Brandon Gdovic Lawson Aschenbach Don Yount	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	2'00.775	14.910
27	57	Katherine Legge Christina Nielsen Ana Beatriz	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	2'00.809	14.944
28	63	Toni Vilander Cooper MacNeil Jeff Westphal	GTD	Ferrari 488 GT3	2'00.974	15.109
29	12	Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	2'01.100	15.235
30	33	Jeroen Bleekemolen Ben Keating Felipe Fraga	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	2'01.184	15.319
31	29	Daniel Morad Christopher Mies Richard Feller	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	2'01.189	15.324
32	8	Ryan Dalziel Parker Chase Ezequiel Perez Companc	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	2'01.333	15.468
33	48	Corey Lewis Bryan Sellers Ryan Hardwick	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	2'01.725	15.860
34	71	Fabian Schiller Maximilian Buhk JC Perez	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	2'01.961	16.096
35	73	Patrick Long Patrick Lindsey Nicholas Boulle	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	2'02.150	16.285
36	44	Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly John Potter	GTD	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	2'02.205	16.340
37	19	Andrew Davis Will Hardeman Alex Riberas	GTD	Audi R8 LMS GT3	2'02.534	16.669
38	14	Jack Hawksworth Philipp Frommenwiler Richard Heistand	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	0.000