Jack Hawksworth has taken GTD Pro pole for the 12 Hours of Sebring after setting the fastest time in Friday’s IMSA qualifying session.
The #14 Vasser Sullivan driver punched in an unbeatable benchmark of 1:58.714 to ensure his Lexus RC F GT3 will lead the GT contingent away for Saturday’s enduro and he will be joined on the front row by the fastest GTD entrant, Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis.
34 competitors across GTD Pro and GTD set out onto the bumps of Sebring International Raceway in Florida, U.S.A. at 12:50 local time (16:50 local time) for the fifteen-minute qualifying session.
After the field set about bringing their tyres up to temperature, Mario Farnbacher set the first representative lap, as one of seven cars to break the two-minute barrier, leading proceedings with a 1:59.264 laptime in the GTD Pro #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO.
Hawksworth then broke the 1:59 barrier, punching in the 1:58.714 lap that would ultimately land him pole.
Hawksworth and Farnbacher were then separated by three GTD runners in the overall classification with a few minutes to spare, thanks to Ellis (#57 Mercedes-AMG GT3), Antonio Fuoco (#47 Ferrari 296 GT3) and Parker Thompson (#12 Lexus RC F GT3).
Ellis’ time of 1:58.778 was good for second overall and fastest of the GTD runners, 0.236 faster than Fuoco in the GTD Cetilar Racing Ferrari, who was 0.129 faster than Thompson in the GTD Lexus.
Farnbacher ensures that the #23 Aston will line up fifth as the second-fastest GTD Pro qualifier courtesy of his 1:59.264 tour of the Sebring circuit.
Next up was fourth-best GTD runner, Mikael Grenier in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG car (1:59.350) followed by thrid-best GTD Pro entrant Seb Priaulx in the #77 Rexy AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (1:59.446).
Eighth overall and fourth-fastest GTD Pro runner was Alexander Sims in the #4 Pratt Miller Corvette Z06 GT3.R with a 1:59.508 lap time.
Ninth overall and rounding out the top five in GTD Pro was Franck Perera in the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 after setting a 1:59.517 lap time.
Completing the top five in GTD and coming in with the 13th fastest time of all GT competitors was Loris Spinelli in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan thanks to a time of 1:59.797.
Editor’s Note:
The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG has been stripped off its pole position due to a technical infringement.
Celitar Racing inherit GTD pole in their #47 Ferrari 296, as Winward will start at the back of the field.
All Corvettes (#3 and #4 GTD Pro, #13 and #17 GTD) have also been moved to the back of the grid after Chevrolet violated a technical infringement by modifiying a homologated component. They were also fined $10k.
The #023 Triasi Competizione Ferrari team also have been penalised for changing their starting driver.
The starting order of this group will be: #023 and #57 on Row 27, #3 and #4 on Row 28, #13 and #17 on Row 29.
