USC – 12 Hours of Sebring: Sébastien Bourdais, it’s America!

The tension was high when the Prototypes set off to close qualifying for these 12 Hours of Sebring, second round of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship. Scott Pruett (Riley-Ford – Ganassi) and Richard Westbrook (Corvette DP – Spirit of Daytona) are both made mistakes in the first minutes of the Prototype qualifying session, but without damage. It was then Jon Fogarty (Corvette DP – Action Express Racing) who was the first to stand at the top of the timesheet, before seeing the other car from the team, driven by Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais take the lead. The four-time Champ Car champion will keep his property until the end. The trio Bourdais – Barbosa – Fittipaldi is definitely the scarecrow of this start of the season, after its victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

And France continues to stand out in a very good way in the United States since Olivier Pla places the Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan in second position on the grid. It is the Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP which completes the master trio of these qualifications with Ricky Taylor – Jordan Taylor – Max Angelelli. Ganassi's Riley-Fords did not confirm their good form in free practice, with Scott Dixon taking 6th place and Scott Pruett 9th. simon pagenaud and his Extreme Speed ​​Motorsport teammates will start 8th on their HPD ARX-03b. Tristan Vautier and the crew of the Mazda SkyActiv-D will start in last position.

In the Prototype Challenge, in the pitched battle between the ORECA FLM09s, it is ultimately the no. 09 of RSR Racing led by Bruno Junqueira – Duncan Ende – David Heinemaier Hansson which will start at the head of the PCs ahead of the no. 25 of 8Star Motorsports of Enzo Potolicchio – Tom Kimber-Smith – Mike Marsal and the No. 38 of Raphael Matos – Charlie Shears – David Ostella of Performance Tech Motorsports.

Porsche dominated GTLM qualifying. It was the #912 from Porsche North America which set the best time in the hands of Michael Christensen who will be supported by Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long. The two RLL Team BMW Z4s complete the trifecta in the category with the trios Dirk Müller – Dirk Werner – John Edwards and Andy Priaulx – Joey Hand – Bill Auberlen. The Corvette C7.Rs from Corvette Racing are 4th and 5th ahead of the second 911 RSR from Porsche North America where Patrick Pilet is lined up. There Ferrari 458 Italia by Gianmaria Bruni – Matteo Malucelli – Giancarlo Fisichella follows just after in 7th position.

In GTD, it was the BMW Z4 of Turner Motorsport of the trio Dane Cameron – Paul Dalla Lanna – Markus Palttala which took pole position ahead of the Porsche 911 GT America of Alex Job Racing of Cooper McNeil – Leh Keen – Philipp Frommenwiler and the Riley Motorsports SRT Viper GT3-R of Jeroen Bleekemolen – Sebastiaan Bleekemolen – Ben Keating. Kevin Estre, entered in the Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America, will start from 12th place in the category.