The Brazilian skillfully navigated the 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit and jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a flying lap of 1m48.152s to claim pole in the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R prepared by Action Express Racing.
Sebastien Bourdais was able to propel the Cadillac prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing to second, 0.147 seconds behind.
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s #40 Acura ARX-06, which missed Thursday evening’s practice due to an engine change, was next quickest thanks to Louis Deletraz’s effort, while the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng seized fourth.
However, Ricky Taylor, in the sister WTR Andretti entry, actually set the fastest time in GTP, but he received extra work on the machine during a red flag, which voided his overall time of 1m48.038s.
Earlier, Phil Hanson had the top time of 1m51.441s in the #85 Porsche 963 for JDC-Miller MotorSports until the red flag and Hanson ended up sixth.
The #6 Penske Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet, who was out on his maiden run, had a significant shunt after his right rear went over the kerbing at the exit of Turn 1, which sent the car into a wild slide that resulted in the nose slamming into the barrier.
The incident brought out red flags and left four minutes in the remainder of the segment.
LMP2
PJ Hyett delivered a stout 1m52.142s flyer to take his first-ever pole behind the wheel of ‘Spike’, AO Racing’s #99 ORECA LMP2 07.
“Yeah, I’m kind of speechless about what’s happening here,” Hyett said. “Sebring is one of the greatest tracks in the world, and to get pole in a P2 car is a dream come true. I can’t believe it. I honestly can’t believe it.”
United Autosports #22 ORECA of Daniel Goldburg got close to the top, but ultimately fell 0.171s off Hyett’s pace-setting time.
After going top briefly with 10 minutes remaining in the class qualifying, Ben Keating pulled off a power slide entering Turn 3 that kicked out the rear of his #2 United Autosports ORECA and came to a slight halt enough to be lined up with the exit of the corner. He was able to continue and ended up 0.531s adrift in third when the dust settled.
The #20 ORECA of MKD by High Class Racing, piloted by Dennis Andersen, was stopped on track just offline in Turn 7 to bring out the red flag in the final minute and ended the segment early.
GTD and GTD Pro
#14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Jack Hawksworth dropped a flyer of 1m58.714s to claim the GTD Pro pole in Vasser Sullivan’s #14 Lexus RC F GT3.
The lap came with roughly six minutes remaining, and meant the Lexus crew finished sizeably ahead of Heart of Racing Team’s #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Marco Farnbacher by 0.550s.
AO Racing’s Seb Priaulx was third fastest in the #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, 0.732s off Hawksworth’s time.
Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis led GTD with a lap of 1m58.778s in the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3, which was only 0.064s off the overall GTD class mark set by Hawksworth.
Antonio Fuoco, driving the #47 Ferrari 296 GT3 for Cetilar Racing was second in class, while Parker Thompson put the GTD entry for Vasser Sullivan third in class in the #12 Lexus.
Qualifying result:
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