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Audi R18 Takes Pole For Mobil 1 Twelve Hours Of Sebring

Sebring, Fla. – Three Audi Sport Team Joest R18s swept to the top of the speed charts in qualifications for the pole position for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. When the dust settled, Germany’s Andre Lotterer took the pole by sweeping around the 17-turn, 3.74-mile road course at a speed of 127.235 miles per hour.

“The lap was good and the car really ran well. I am pretty satisfied,” Lotterer said. “It is a nice reward for our team. “My lap wasn’t perfect but most of the lap was better than I thought it would be.”

Addressing the competition among his fellow Audi teammates, the pole winner said, “We are all trying our best and we work closely together, as we don’t want to get caught up in the game.”

Lotterer is a rookie at Sebring and he would have preferred not to start the race, but has accepted the responsibility.

Audi is competing in the World Endurance Championship side of the race and on the American LeMans Series side of the fastest class, Klaus Graf claimed that pole with a run of 125.205 mph in the Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a.

“A new car is a lot of work, and it is a bit of a challenge,” Graf indicated. “The pole is a reward for the team and Michelin. For everyone, the pole is very rewarding.”

In the WEC’s P2 class, Olivier Pla of France put Oak Racing’s Morgan Judd on the pole. His speed was 121.883 mph.

Bruno Junqueira put the RSR Oreca FLM09 on the pole for the ALMS PC class in the first time out for the newly structured team. His speed was 117.579 mph.

The GT class features the WEC and the ALMS with Gianmaria Bruni taking the WEC top spot in a Ferrari F458 Italia at 113.690 mph and Jan Magnussen claiming the ALMS portion in a new Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 at 113.147 mph.

Dominik Farnbacher took the top spot in WEC’s GTE-AM class at 112.028 mph.

In all, 64 cars qualified for Saturday’s 12-hour event.

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