Sebring: GT practice one report

Archer Fastest In First Sebring SPEED GT Practice

SEBRING, Fla. (March 14, 2007) -- Former SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Champion Tommy Archer, of Duluth, Minn., paced the first practice session for this year's opening round at the 55th Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring in his Dodge Viper at Sebring International Raceway. Corvette teammates Doug Peterson and Lou Gigliotti were second and third, respectively.

Driving the No. 5 MOPAR/Autohaus Motorsport Dodge Viper, Archer navigated the historic 3.7-mile Sebring circuit with a fast time of 2:09.677 (102.716 mph) in the opening laps of the short, 13-minute session. The 2004 series Champion won the 2005 race at Sebring, also in a Dodge Viper.

Peterson, of Bonita Springs, Fla., uncorked a lap of 2:10.262 (102.255 mph) as the checkered flag flew to take second in his No. 87 LG Pro Long Tube Headers Chevrolet Corvette, just edging teammate Gigliotti, of Dallas, Texas, by 0.034-second.

Sonny Whelen, of Old Saybrook, Conn., made it three Corvette's in-a-row, putting his No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette fourth on the time sheets with a fastest time of 2:10.335 (102.198 mph). Defending series Champion Lawson Aschenbach, of W. Palm Beach, Fla., completed the top five in his No. 1 XM/Mobil 1/Bose/Cadillac CTS-V with a fastest lap of 2:10.509 (102.062 mph).

The session was shortened from its original scheduled 20 minutes due to a late start from a cleanup from an earlier session.

Practice for Friday afternoon's race resumes later today at 5:10 p.m. (EDT).

-credit: scca-wc