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Jani Puts Rebellion on 12H Sebring Pole

Neel Jani storms to Twelve Hours of Sebring pole…

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Rebellion Racing will start tomorrow’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring from the pole, with Neel Jani smashing the track qualifying record in a heated qualifying session Saturday.

The reigning FIA World Endurance Champion reeled off a 1:48.178 lap time in the No. 13 Oreca 07 Gibson, marking the first pole for a 2917 global-spec LMP2 car in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.

Jani edged out the Rolex 24 at Daytona pole-sitting No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi.V-R of Christian Fittipaldi by 0.095 seconds.

Fittipaldi was on a late flyer in his Cadillac, but ran out of fuel on his final lap, dashing hopes of stealing the pole away in the closing moments of the 15-minute session.

The Swiss driver will share driving duties in tomorrow’s race with Sebastien Buemi and Nick Heidfeld.

The No. 31 Action Express Cadillac, qualified by Dane Cameron will roll off third, with Jose Gutierrez fourth in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier JS P217 Gibson with a 1:49.056 lap time.

Brendon Hartley completed the top-five in the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi, with Ricky Taylor only able to muster sixth in the Rolex 24-winning Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

The No. 2 ESM Nissan, which was on a quick flyer in the hands of Pipo Derani, lost all of its qualifying times after a boost-related infraction. The car pitted with engine issues prior to setting a competitive lap.

Gustavo Yacaman, meanwhile, claimed Prototype Challenge pole honors, in a cut-throat battle with James French.

The Colombian reeled off a 1:53.506 on his final lap in the No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca FLM09 to edge out French’s Daytona class-winning Performance Tech entry by just 0.069 seconds.

Buddy Rice qualified third in the sister BAR1 entry, nearly 2.5 seconds behind.

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

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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