Audi opened the second day of testing at the top of the time sheets for the 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida, Audi Sport Team Joest’s R15 prototype driven by Timo Bernard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller posted a 1:48.450 (122.822 mph) lap, 0.533 seconds off Audi’s quickest time from Monday’s test for the opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila PatrĂ³n and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.
Peugeot was also unable to improve on Monday’s time and instead entered a 1:49.615 (121.516 mph) at the hands of Franck Montagny, Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin, 1.165 seconds behind the No. 1 Audi R15 Plus. The second Audi R15 of Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen completed the top three in LMP1 with a lap of 1:50.080 (121.003 mph).
The GT category remained incredibly tight with the top six cars separated by less than half a second. Corvette Racing’s Corvette C6.R of Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook led the way with a 2:02.043 (109.142 mph), followed by BMW Motorsport’s Augusto Farfus, Dirk Werner and Bill Auberlen. Their BMW M3 turned a 2:02.065 (109.122 mph), but was quicker on Monday when the car topped the day with a 2:01.562 (109.574 mph). Jaime Melo, Mika Salo and Toni Vilander were third in the Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 GTC, turning a 2:02.151 (109.045 mph).
The Signatech Nissan-powered ORECA 03 continued to lead the LMP2 times as Franck Mailleux, Lucas Ordonez and Soheil Ayari entered a 1:55.627 (115.198 mph). It was followed by the Oak Racing Pescarolo-Judd of Andrea Barlesi, Patrice Lagargue and Frederic DaRocha, with a 1:59.883 (111.108 mph). Level 5’s Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa were third in their Lola-Honda coupe, turning a 2:01.510 (109.621 mph).
CORE autosport held down the top spots in LMPC as Jon Bennett, Frankie Montecalvo and Ryan Dalziel turned a 1:55.852 (114.974 mph), followed closely by the sister ORECA FLM09 of Gunnar Jeannette, Ricardo Gonzalez and Rudy Junco with a 1:56.364 (114.468 mph). Not far behind was PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ entry of Ken Dobson, Ryan Lewis and Henri Richard, which turned in a 1:56.545 (114.291 mph).
Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal and Michele Rugolo were the GTE-AM leaders with a 2:04.631 (106.875 mph) in the Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette C6.R followed by Pierre Ehert, Shaun Lynn and Roger Willis at a 2:07.561(104.421 mph) in the CRS Racing Ferrari F430.
Bill Sweedler, Leh Keen and Brian Wong were the early GTC leaders on Tuesday after turning a 2:06.645 (105.176 mph) in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry. GMG Racing’s Bret Curtis, Jan Seyffarth and James Sofronas were second quickest with a 2:07.374 (104.574 mph). TRG’s Porsche of Dion von Moltke, Peter Ludwig and Jim Norman completed the top three with a 2:07.698 (104.309 mph).
The second and final test session for America’s great sports car race is set for 3:50 p.m. ET today.
(c) ALMS PR