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Ford Sweeps GTLM Front Row at Sebring

Ford locks out front row in GTLM for Twelve Hours of Sebring…

Photo: Wes Dunkel/Ford

Photo: Wes Dunkel/Ford

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing claimed the top two spots in GT Le Mans qualifying ahead of Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, led by Ryan Briscoe in the No. 67 Ford GT.

The Australian smashed the class track qualifying record, reeling off a fast lap of 1:55.939 to edge out the sister No. 66 car of Dirk Mueller by 0.236 seconds.

Briscoe’s lap was nearly 2.5 seconds quicker than Bill Auberlen’s GTLM pole time last year.

While Briscoe and co-drivers Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon search for their first major endurance race win together, Mueller, Hand and Sebastien Bourdais seek completing the “triple crown” of endurance races tomorrow.

Tommy Milner put the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R third in class, with Kevin Estre fourth in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR.

The No. 3 Corvette and No. 68 Ford completed the top three rows for Saturday’s race, with the top six cars in class covered by just over a half-second.

Tristan Vautier took a dominant class pole in GT Daytona, marking the first for both SunEnergy1 Racing and Mercedes-AMG in only their second outing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The Frenchman completed a best lap of 1:59.738 in the No. 75 entry he’ll share with Boris Said and Kenny Habul, a full three-quarters of a second faster than Connor de Philippi in the No. 29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS..

As was the case in GTLM, it was another track qualifying record.

Corey Lewis qualified third in the No. 16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, with Lexus locking down the fourth and fifth quickest times in class, led by an impressive qualifying performance by Robert Alon in the No. 15 Lexus RC F GT3.

The No. 14 Lexus was fifth, in the hands of Scott Pruett.

Both Acura NSX GT3 entries from Michael Shank Racing returned to the track and post times after both the Nos. 93 and 86 cars encountered problems in practice earlier in the day.

They will start 11th and 14th, respectively.

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring gets underway at 10:40 a.m. ET, with live coverage on FS1 beginning at 12:30 p.m. and entire race on FOX Sports GO beginning at 10:30 a.m.

RESULTS: Qualifying

Ryan Myrehn is an Indianapolis-based broadcaster and reporter. In addition to his work covering primarily domestic sports car racing for Sportscar365, he is the lead announcer for SRO America's TV coverage as well as a pit reporter for IndyCar Radio. Myrehn, a graduate of DePauw University, is also the host of Sportscar365's “Double Stint” Podcast.

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