Audi Sport Team Joest's Allan McNish set the best time of Monday's opening test for the 60th Anniversary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The three-time winner of the 12-hour classic set a time of 1:47.187 (125.612mph) in the Audi R18 he will share with Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen.
McNish led a trio of Audis at the top of the time sheets Monday afternoon. The R18 of Marcel Faessler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Tréluyer sat just 0.667sec back. The reigning Le Mans 24 Hours winners were ahead of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Loic Duval; their car set a best time of 1:48.294 (124.328mph). Muscle Milk Pickett Racing's HPD ARX-03a of Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr and Simon Pagenaud led the ALMS contingent at 1:50.231 (122.143mph) – good enough for fourth on the day
Level 5 Motorsports, the defending P2 champion at Sebring and in the ALMS, was quickest in class with its HPD ARX-03b prototype. The car of Scott Tucker, Luis Diaz and Ryan Hunter-Reay turned a lap of 1:52.055 (120.155mph) that put it nearly 1.5 seconds ahead of the sister car.
The second Level 5 HPD of Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa was at 1:53.538 (118.586mph) and sat 0.782sec clear of Greaves Motorsports' Zytek-Nissan.
In GT, Luxury Racing went quickest with its Ferrari F458 GT. The car – driven by Frédéric Makowiecki, Jaime Melo and Jean-Karl Vernay – posted a lap of 2:00.830 (111.429mph) and led two of the ALMS' stalwarts by 0.632sec.
Flying Lizard Motorsports' Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marco Holzer set the second-fastest time in the class at 2:01.155 (111.130mph). Corvette Racing's Corvette C6.R of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook was third, just 0.307 seconds behind their Porsche rivals.
Dempsey Racing led Prototype Challenge with a lap of 1:55.540 (116.531mph) in the ORECA FLM09 driven by Henri Richard, Duncan Ende and Dane Cameron. Performance Tech's trio of Anthony Nicolosi, Ricardo Vera and Raphael Matos was just 0.187 seconds back; PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports' trio of Ken Dobson, Butch Leitzinger and Rudy Junco was third at 1:55.917 (116.152mph).
Luxury Racing also held the top spot in GTE Am with the Ferrari of Pierre Ehret, Dominik Farnbacher and Francois Jakubowski setting a time of 2:02.893 (109.559mph). Team Felbermayr-Proton's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti sat second and just 0.377 seconds behind the class-leading Ferrari.
In GT Challenge, Green Hornet Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Peter LeSaffre, Damien Faulkner and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen went fastest at 2:06.899 (106.100mph). That time put the Green Hornet racer 0.256sec ahead of NGT Motorsport's trio of Sean Edwards, Henrique Cisneros and Carlos Kauffmann. Alex Job Racing's Porsche of Cooper MacNeil, Leh Keen and LP Dumoulin was a further 0.325sec back.