Aston beats Highcroft to pole

Date published : 17 Apr 2010 - 01:41:46

Adrian Fernandez put Aston Martin on pole position for round two of the American Le Mans Series in Long Beach - but only after a very tight battle with Highcroft HPD's Simon Pagenaud.In the first event for the new combined and performance-balanced single LMP class, the LMP1 Aston and LMP2 HPD proved evenly-matched.Fernandez set the early pace, but was then pipped by Pagenaud just before a mid-session stoppage to clear debris.When qualifying resumed for a final shoot-out, Fernandez reclaimed the top spot with a 1m13.213s lap, and Pagenaud had to settle for second after lapping just 0.072 seconds slower on his last effort.The pole combatants ended up a second clear of the rest of the field, with the Dyson Lola-Mazda and CytoSport Porsche lining up third and fourth on the grid.Jon Field was back after his ferocious Sebring practice accident and took Intersport's older Lola to fifth.Drayson will start back in sixth after Jonny Cocker went down an escape road early in the session and had difficult extricating the car.Jaime Melo gave Risi Ferrari another pole in the rebranded GT class. The Brazilian needed only a single run early in the session to immediately go half a second clear of his rivals, before returning to the pits to watch them fail to beat him.Wolf Henzler underlined Falken Porsche's gains this year with second. The two Corvettes will start third and fifth in class, split by the top Flying Lizard Porsche, with the Rahal Letterman BMWs and Extreme Speed Ferraris next up.Level 5 driver Christophe Bouchut was fastest among the LMPC field, just ahead of Gunnar Jeanette's Green Earth Gunnar entry. Black Swan Racing's Jeroen Bleekemolen took GTC pole, beating TRG's Andy Lally in the all-Porsche GT3 class.Pos Cl Drivers Car Time Gap 1. P Primat/Fernandez Lola-Aston Martin 1m13.213s 2. P Brabham/Pagenaud HPD 1m13.285s + 0.072s 3. P Dyson/Smith Lola-Mazda 1m14.191s + 0.978s 4. P Pickett/Graf Porsche 1m14.259s + 1.046s 5. P Field/Field/Konstant Lola 1m15.136s + 1.923s 6. P Drayson/Cocker Lola 1m17.084s + 3.871s 7. PC Tucker/Bouchut ORECA 1m17.273s + 4.060s 8. PC Julian/Jeannette ORECA 1m17.520s + 4.307s 9. P Drissi/Davis Lola 1m17.611s + 4.398s10. PC Hildebrand/Sutherland ORECA 1m18.186s + 4.973s11. PC Bonilla/Marcelli ORECA 1m18.422s + 5.209s12. GT Melo/Bruni Ferrari 1m19.581s + 6.368s13. GT Sellers/Henzler Porsche 1m20.179s + 6.966s14. GT Magnussen/O'Connell Corvette 1m20.308s + 7.095s15. GT Bergmeister/Long Porsche 1m20.424s + 7.211s16. GT Beretta/Gavin Corvette 1m20.438s + 7.225s17. GT Auberlen/Milner BMW 1m20.486s + 7.273s18. GT Mueller/Hand BMW 1m20.564s + 7.351s19. GT Brown/Cosmo Ferrari 1m20.587s + 7.374s20. PC Tucker/Hunter-Reay ORECA 1m21.151s + 7.938s21. GT Sharp/van Overbeek Ferrari 1m21.346s + 8.133s22. GT Law/Neiman Porsche 1m21.457s + 8.244s23. GT Robertson/Murry Doran Ford 1m21.960s + 8.747s24. PC Pagerey/Wong ORECA 1m22.014s + 8.801s25. GT Gentilozzi/Dalziel Jaguar 1m22.985s + 9.772s26. PC Mowlem/Papadopoulos ORECA 1m23.599s + 10.386s27. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen Porsche 1m23.857s + 10.644s28. GTC Richard/Lally Porsche 1m24.098s + 10.885s29. GTC Curtis/Sofronas Porsche 1m24.256s + 11.043s30. GTC Gonzalez/Leitzinger Porsche 1m24.288s + 11.075s31. GTC Sweedler/Kapudija Porsche 1m24.462s + 11.249s32. GTC Lewis/Vento Porsche 1m24.672s + 11.459s33. GTC Miller/McMullen Porsche 1m24.730s + 11.517s34. GTC Rodriguez/Bieker Porsche 1m24.968s + 11.755s35. GTC Beggs/Baron Porsche 1m25.952s + 12.739s36. GTC Gonzalez/Diaz Porsche 1m26.771s + 13.558s