Sebring, Test 3: Audi takes top spot in Tuesday morning test

Audi opened the second day of testing at the top of the time sheets for the 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida, Audi Sport Team Joest’s R15 prototype driven by Timo Bernard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller posted a 1:48.450 (122.822 mph) lap, 0.533 seconds off Audi’s quickest time from Monday’s test for the opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

Peugeot was also unable to improve on Monday’s time and instead entered a 1:49.615 (121.516 mph) at the hands of Franck Montagny, Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin, 1.165 seconds behind the No. 1 Audi R15 Plus. The second Audi R15 of Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen completed the top three in LMP1 with a lap of 1:50.080 (121.003 mph).

The GT category remained incredibly tight with the top six cars separated by less than half a second. Corvette Racing’s Corvette C6.R of Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook led the way with a 2:02.043 (109.142 mph), followed by BMW Motorsport’s Augusto Farfus, Dirk Werner and Bill Auberlen. Their BMW M3 turned a 2:02.065 (109.122 mph), but was quicker on Monday when the car topped the day with a 2:01.562 (109.574 mph). Jaime Melo, Mika Salo and Toni Vilander were third in the Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 GTC, turning a 2:02.151 (109.045 mph).

The Signatech Nissan-powered ORECA 03 continued to lead the LMP2 times as Franck Mailleux, Lucas Ordonez and Soheil Ayari entered a 1:55.627 (115.198 mph). It was followed by the Oak Racing Pescarolo-Judd of Andrea Barlesi, Patrice Lagargue and Frederic DaRocha, with a 1:59.883 (111.108 mph). Level 5’s Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa were third in their Lola-Honda coupe, turning a 2:01.510 (109.621 mph).

CORE autosport held down the top spots in LMPC as Jon Bennett, Frankie Montecalvo and Ryan Dalziel turned a 1:55.852 (114.974 mph), followed closely by the sister ORECA FLM09 of Gunnar Jeannette, Ricardo Gonzalez and Rudy Junco with a 1:56.364 (114.468 mph). Not far behind was PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ entry of Ken Dobson, Ryan Lewis and Henri Richard, which turned in a 1:56.545 (114.291 mph).

Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal and Michele Rugolo were the GTE-AM leaders with a 2:04.631 (106.875 mph) in the Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette C6.R followed by Pierre Ehert, Shaun Lynn and Roger Willis at a 2:07.561(104.421 mph) in the CRS Racing Ferrari F430.

Bill Sweedler, Leh Keen and Brian Wong were the early GTC leaders on Tuesday after turning a 2:06.645 (105.176 mph) in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry. GMG Racing’s Bret Curtis, Jan Seyffarth and James Sofronas were second quickest with a 2:07.374 (104.574 mph). TRG’s Porsche of Dion von Moltke, Peter Ludwig and Jim Norman completed the top three with a 2:07.698 (104.309 mph).

The second and final test session for America’s great sports car race is set for 3:50 p.m. ET today.

(c) ALMS PR