SEBRING, Fla. — The defending Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring race-winning Porsches paced the opening practice sessions at the iconic Sebring International Raceway, but a Cadillac will lead the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field to green on Saturday.
Perhaps it was a bit of redemption for Sebring’s pole-winning driver Jack Aitken, who drives for Cadillac Whelen in the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R.
Aitken was fastest in qualifying at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, but started that race from the rear following a violation discovered in post-qualifying technical inspection.
In Sebring, Aitken will lead the 11-car Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and full 55-car field to the green flag in the car he shares with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti. This is Aitken’s third Motul Pole Award and 21st for the Action Express Racing team, which has won Sebring three times (2015, 2019, 2023).
When asked Friday about last month’s Daytona qualifying, Aitken managed a smile and said he still considers the team’s qualifying work this season “a pole and a half.”
“I think it’s going to be fairly inconsequential,” Aitken conceded of starting up front in the historically competitive round-the-clock Sebring event, where he captured his first IMSA win in 2023. “But it’s lovely to be on pole. It’s nice to show how the team is working, putting out a good car, to get the bragging rights on some points.
“At the end of the day, we started last in ’25 because of an issue, and we were into the lead in less than two hours with the help of yellows and stuff. It’s kind of neither here nor there. We saw a lot of cars further down the grid were very quick in night practice and over longer runs yesterday.
“Fully expect they’re going to make their way through, as well,” he added of the Porsches.
Aitken’s lap of 1 minute, 46.153 seconds (126.835 mph) in Friday’s sunny, temperate weather conditions was 0.109 of a second faster around the historic 3.74-mile, 17-turn course than Tom Blomqvist, who will start alongside Aitken on the front row in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. He’ll share that car with Colin Braun and six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, the 2009 overall Sebring polesitter.
The 15-minute session featured plenty of inspired pole attempts with the lead changing more than a half dozen times among the field. Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque was third fastest in the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R and will share the second row with the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, whose sister car, the defending race-winning No. 7 Porsche will roll off sixth among the 11 GTP cars.
“Definitely we’re aware of how strong some of the other cars are,” Aitken said. “They don’t show any signs of dropping out of the fight. If anything, they tend to somehow get quicker as the weekend goes on. I’m not taking much stock from what we’ve just seen in qualifying.
“I believe they’ll be right there from quite early in the race. We’ve got some homework to do still to find what we need to win this thing. That’s all we can do.”
LMP2: Goikhberg Captures First IMSA Pole
Meanwhile there was an equally as dramatic session to decide the 12-car LMP2 class starting grid.
Misha Goikhberg claimed the Motul Pole Award in the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07. He was second in the session behind AO Racing’s PJ Hyett, but Hyett lost his fastest lap for causing a red flag during practice. Goikhberg’s best time was 1:51.182 (121.098 mph).
It marks the first IMSA pole for Goikhberg, who will start on pole in the No. 52 ORECA LMP2 07 he shares with Parker Thompson and Harry Tincknell alongside the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 in Saturday’s race. PR1/Mathiasen, however, now has 42 poles, 30 in LMP2 and five at Sebring.
“It’s very exciting,” Goikhberg said, “It’s my first qualifying attempt in a Prototype for this team. We didn’t have the smoothest of weekends. The team did a lot of work overnight. Yeah, it’s a great, great place to start the race.
“I think we know where we need to adjust to have an even better race car for tomorrow.”
The defending Sebring-winning No. 43 Inter Europol Competition, defending LMP2 champion No. 99 AO Racing and Rolex 24-winning No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR ORECAs completed the top five on the grid.
Hyett’s No. 99 AO Racing ORECA needed two laps to set the pole, and it appeared his second fastest lap would be good enough to do so. But while turning in a flying lap in the final minute of the 15-minute session, Hyett dropped the left two tires off track slowing his time just enough to place him fourth on the grid.
