Competitors of the Sebring 12 Hours who are expected at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2013 were present during qualifying ... with the added bonus of class pole position for Dempsey Del Piero Racing!

LM P1 prototypes: Audi confirmed their position. First Swiss winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Marcel Fässler set the pole position time for the Audi R18 e-tron quattro for team mates Benoît Tréluyer and Oliver Jarvis. He beat the sister car of Lucas di Grassi, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, who set the qualifying time. Nick Heidfeld, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost (Rebellion Racing) will start from the third position with their Lola-Toyota. The 2013 version of the DeltaWing recorded the fifteenth fastest time.

LM P2 prototypes: Japanese triple. Both Honda HPD ARX-03b of Level 5 Motorsports retained the top two spots in class. Nissan joined the top 3 though the skills of Tom Kimber-Smith, third fastest driving the Greaves Motorsport Zytek. These three cars occupy the seventh, eighth and ninth places on the starting grid.

GT: Ferrari and Dempsey Del Piero Racing at the forefront. Ferrari dealer in Houston Texas and twice winner of the GT2 class at Le Mans (2008-2009), Giuseppe Risi made a great return to competition. Gianmaria Bruni hoisted the Ferrari 458 Italia to pole position in front of the factory Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Aston Martin Vantage of Darren Turner. Kudos for Patrick Dempsey and his very experienced team mate Andy Lally who set the fastest time of the GTC class with the Porsche 911 of Dempsey Del Piero Racing.

Jean-Philippe Doret

Photo : SEBRING (FLORIDA, USA), SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, SEBRING 12 HOURS, FREE PRACTICE, 14th MARCH 2013. Qualified third on the grid, the Lola-Toyota of Neel Jani-Nicolas Prost-Nick Heidfeld is ready for a podium finish, or maybe better!