Sebring: Horag Racing qualifying report

Horag Racing's Lammers to Start Eighth in LMP2 In Saturday's Twelve Hours of Sebring

SEBRING, Fla., March 13 - Ben Devlin escaped injury but his crash wiped out qualifying for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Thursday afternoon at Sebring International Raceway. The official starting line-up was determined by each entry's fastest time set during any of the three practice sessions, so Horag Racing ended up eighth in the LMP2 class and 12th overall on the starting grid for Saturday's 35-car American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season opener.

Jan Lammers of Katwyk, the Netherlands was behind the wheel of Horag Racing's brand-new Porsche RS Spyder No. 27 when its fastest practice time prior to qualifications was posted in the Thursday morning session. That lap was run in 1:48.522 for an average speed of 122.740 miles per hour for the 3.7-mile, 17-turn road course, so that turns out to be the team's qualifying time and speed.

Lammers was ready to try to go even faster in the 20-minute qualifying session Thursday afternoon, but he didn't get the chance, as IMSA officials abandoned the session when it seemed that the clean-up of the Devlin accident would be lengthy. Lammers didn't get even one flying lap in, as the team's strategy was not to start the qualifying session right away, waiting a bit to try to get a better spot in traffic.

The team's fastest lap in the first practice session was a 1:49.220 (121.956 mph), which was eighth in LMP2 and 11th overall. Its fastest lap in the second practice session was a 1:51.273 (119.706 mph) that was ninth in LMP2 and 13th overall. The one that counted for the starting line-up, the third practice session, put the team eighth in class and 12th overall for that session as well as for the starting grid.

Horag Racing owner Markus Hotz said that Lammers will start the race Saturday at 10:05 a.m. Eastern time, with Fredy Lienhard of Niederteufen, Switzerland and Didier Theys of Scottsdale, Ariz., following in the driver rotation for his team. It is sponsored by Lista, Making Workspace Work, and Lista Office LO.

This event is the first ever for the team's brand-new Porsche RS Spyder. The team has been working hard to learn as much as possible about its new car here, and all the drivers say it's a pleasure to drive.

Although Lammers lives in Europe, he has ties to Florida. His children live in Kissimmee, near Walt Disney World.

SPEED plans a special pre-race show from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern tonight. Night practice is slated for 7:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern tonight too.

The live race coverage on SPEED runs from 9:30 a.m. to noon Eastern and then again from 2 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Eastern Saturday.

Live timing and scoring will be available on imsaracing.net. The schedule can be found on the series' Web site at americanlemans.com. Horag Racing's Web site is at horag-racing.com.

-credit: hr