Sebring - AMR FASTEST ON FIRST DAY OF WINTER TEST

Sports Car Racing News

QUICK LEARNERS: AMR FASTEST ON FIRST DAY OF WINTER TEST

V12-powered screamer sets pace at Sebring

It didn’t take long for Adrian Fernandez and Aston Martin Racing to find their comfort zone at Sebring International Raceway. The exquisite Aston Martin-powered Lola coupe was the quickest car on the first day of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón’s annual Winter Test at Sebring.

The two-day test in a warmup for the Series’ 2010 opener, the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida.

The screaming V12-powered Lola-Aston Martin prototype turned a best lap of 1:47.826 (123.532 mph) in the day’s first four-hour session. Fernandez, last year’s LMP2 winner at Sebring, got his first taste of driving the Aston Martin Racing factory car. He is driving with Harold Primat and Stefan Mücke.

Interestingly, the three quickest cars all set their fastest times of the day in the four-hour morning session. Another Lola – Intersport Racing’s AER-powered Lola B06/10 was second fastest on the day at 1:48.066 (123.258 mph). The father-son duo of Jon and Clint Field handled most of the driving.

Patrón Highcroft Racing, last year’s LMP1 champion, sat third with a best lap of 1:48.263 (123.034 mph) with its HPD ARX-01c prototype. David Brabham – a former Sebring class winner – is driving with new teammate Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti.

The Patrón Highcroft entry was the quickest LMP2 car, followed by Team Cytosport’s Porsche RS Spyder – driven by Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Sascha Maassen – at 1:49.187 (121.993 mph). Dyson Racing’s Mazda-powered Lola B10/86 coupe was third at 1:50.261 (120.804 mph). Team regulars Chris Dyson and Guy Smith drove the car with newcomer Andy Meyrick.

Green Earth Team Gunnar was the quickest of the new Le Mans Prototype Challenge teams at 1:57.131 (113.285 mph)with Gunner Jeannette, Christian Zugel and Elton Julian driving. Each LMPC team has entered an ORECA FLM09 prototype that will race for the first time in North America this year.

Genoa Racing was second in class with sports car legend Andy Wallace shaking down the car. The Genoa entry’s best time was a 1:57.580 (113.285 mph), nearly a full 0.7 seconds quicker than Primetime Race Group’s entry of Joel Feinberg and Kyle Marcelli.

In GT2, Risi Competizione’s pairing of Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni went quickest in their Ferrari F430 GT. The Risi squad, which hasn’t lost an endurance race since Sebring 2008, posted a best time of 2:02.286 (108.925 mph).

The top three were within a second of each other. One of BMW Rahal Letterman Racing’s BMW M3s – the car of Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner – was second with Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of defending class champions Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long third.

In the GT Challenge class, Darrell Carlisle was the quickest driver with a lap of 2:07.902 (104.142 mph) for Kelly Moss racing. Teammate Peter LeSaffre was less than 0.6 seconds back and just ahead of GMG Racing’s Brent Holden.

Testing continues Tuesday from Sebring starting at 8 a.m. ET.