Bernhard Scores Penske Pole At Long Beach

[Todd Benne]

Timo Bernhard gave Penske Racing its first pole position at the Long Beach street circuit Friday as the German Porsche factory driver took the point for Saturday’s Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach with a record-setting run in Penske’s No. 7 Porsche RS Spyder.

Bernhard set a time of 1:11.330 (99.324 mph), good enough for a 0.094-second gap over Luis Diaz in Lowe’s Fernandez Racing’s Acura ARX-01b. Bernhard, who will team with Romain Dumas, also broke Dario Franchitti’s track record, a 1:11.838 set last season in Andretti Green Racing’s Acura.

The first five cars on the grid are LMP2 cars, which are feasting on the tight and twisty 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit. The top six cars were within 0.566 seconds.

Last year’s Long Beach race saw Bernhard and Dumas win the first of six overall Series races. The duo scored eight LMP2 victories on their way to the class championship. They already are 2-for-2 this year with an overall win at the 12 Hours of Sebring and a class triumph at St. Petersburg.

David Brabham qualified third overall in the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura at 1:11.448 (99.160 mph). He will drive with Scott Sharp.

Lucas Luhr scored the pole position in LMP1 but will start sixth overall in the No. 2 Audi R10 TDI he will share with Marco Werner. Luhr’s time of 1:11.75 (98.722 mph) also was under last year’s qualifying record, a 1:12.713 set by Audi’s Dindo Capello.

Luhr and Werner won overall at the last Series street round at St. Petersburg.

Emanuele Pirro was 0.131 seconds behind Luhr in the other Audi R10 TDI. He will drive with Frank Biela. Third in P1 was Jon Field in Intersport Racing’s Lola B06/10-AER at 1:14.580 (94.996 mph).

Jan Magnussen captured his first GT1 pole of the season in Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Corvette C6.R, a lap of 1:17.059 (91.940 mph) that was 1.086 seconds under last year’s qualifying time from Olivier Beretta in the No. 4 sister car. Magnussen will team with Johnny O’Connell as the pairing enters the weekend tied for the class championship lead with Beretta and Oliver Gavin.

Magnussen and O’Connell won the season’s first race at Sebring and finished second two weeks ago at St. Petersburg.

Gavin qualified the No. 4 car second at 1:17.465 (91.458 mph). Saturday’s race will be the second race that both the factory Corvettes will compete with cellulosic E85.

In GT2, Patrick Pilet scored a pole position in his first qualifying effort in the American Le Mans Series, putting Flying Lizard Motorsports’ No. 46 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on the point in class. The French Porsche factory driver posted a time of 1:19.705 (88.888 mph) and broke Mika Salo’s record from last year by 1.211 seconds.

Flying Lizard qualified first and second on the GT2 grid with Jörg Bergmeister 0.406 seconds behind his teammate in the No. 45 Porsche. A pair of Ferrari F430 GTs were next with Tafel Racing’s Dirk Mueller qualifying third at 1:20.306 (88.108 mph).

The Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, Round 3 of the 2008 season, is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 19 from the famed Long Beach street circuit. ABC will broadcast the race from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 20. XM Satellite Radio will provide coverage on Channel 144 from 7 to 9 p.m. ET Saturday, April 19. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage of the race at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA’s Live Timing & Scoring.

Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach
Long Beach street circuit, Long Beach, Calif.
Saturday’s qualifying

1. Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:11.330, 99.32
2. Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:11.424, 99.19
3. Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:11.448, 99.16
4. Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:11.583, 98.97
5. Christian Fittipaldi, Miami, FL; Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Acura ARX-01B (P2), 1:11.697, 98.82
6. Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:11.765, 98.72
7. Frank Biela, Germany; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi AG R10/TDI (P1), 1:11.896, 98.54
8. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:12.428, 97.82
9. Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Porsche RS Spyder (P2), 1:13.050, 96.99
10. Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Lola B07 46 Mazda (P2), 1:14.210, 95.47
11. Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Lola B06/10 AER (P1), 1:14.580, 95.00
12. Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 1:17.059, 91.94
13. Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (GT1), 1:17.465, 91.46
14. Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Tomy Drissi, Hollywood, CA; Creation CA07-002 Judd (P1), 1:19.324, 89.31
15. Patrick Pilet, France; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 1:19.705, 88.89
16. Wolf Henzler, Germany; Jörg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 1:20.137, 88.41
17. Mika Salo, Finland; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 1:20.306, 88.22
18. Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 1:20.410, 88.11
19. Marc Basseng, Germany; Alex Davison, Australia; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 1:20.788, 87.70
20. Harrison Brix, San Jose, CA; Patrick Friesacher, Austria; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 1:21.057, 87.41
21. Johnny Mowlem, England; Gunnar Jeannette, Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Ferrari F430 GT (GT2), 1:21.396, 87.04
22. Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 1:21.752, 86.66
23. Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (GT2), 1:22.229, 86.16
24. Craig Stanton, Long Beach, CA; Nathan Swartzbaugh, La Habra Heights, LA; Rueben Carrapatoso, Brazil; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2), 1:23.003, 85.36
25. David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT-R (GT2), 1:23.869, 84.47
26. Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Aston Martin DBRS 9 (GT2), 1:24.599, 83.75
27. Doug Peterson, Bonita Springs, FL; Lou Gigliotti, Dallas, TX; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (GT2), 1:25.076, 83.28
28. Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (GT2), 1:25.144, 83.21