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Klaus Graf was the man to beat during qualifying for round 3 of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Aboard his Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03a, Graf covered Laguna Seca's famous racetrack in just 1min13.575s.

ALMS.com

Saturday night, with the help of his teammate Lucas Luhr, he will try to capture his team's first win at the Mazda Raceway - and break free of a tie for first place with Dyson Racing in the championship.

Level 5 Motorsports' Christophe Bouchut won the P2 pole by qualifying the HPD ARX-03b he shares with Scott Tucker and ex-F1 racer Franck Montagny in third overall. However, Montagny also recorded a lap in the team's second car, which enabled Level 5 to lock the front row.

ALMS.com

On its debut ALMS race, Dempsey Racing - TV star Patrick Dempsey's team - qualified third in P2, thanks to Jonny Cocker's 1min17.494s lap.

In GT, Darren Turner, in his Aston Martin Vantage, edged out Tommy Milner's Corvette.

ALMS.com

Turner can be proud of his team, which competed at the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Spa round, last weekend.

"The guys put (the car) on the plane and had to change things out when we got here, but we also have the hardest working team on the pit lane," Turner said.

Jörg Müller took third in class for BMW Team RLL, while Bruno Junqueira won his second LMPC pole at the wheel of RSR Racing's ORECA FLM09.

ALMS.com

Source: ALMS.com



Starting grid - American Le Mans Monterey (Laguna Seca, Cal.)

First row

Luhr/Graf (HPD ARX-03a) - Pickett - 1min13.573s

Dyson/Smith/Mowlem (Lola B12/60-Mazda) - Dyson - 1min15.358s


Second row

Tucker/Bouchut/Montagny (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 1min15.846s
Tucker/Diaz/Montagny (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 1min15.935s


Third row

Dempsey/Cocker/Foster (Lola B12/87-Mazda) - Dempsey - 1min17.494s

Junqueira/Drissi/Gonzalez (Oreca FLM09) - RSR - 1min17.867s


Fourth row

Popow/Kimber-Smith (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 1min18.092s

Guasch/Gidley/Hamilton (Oreca FLM09) - Pickett - 1min18.114s


Fifth row

Leitzinger/Dobson (Oreca FLM09) - PR1 - 1min18.396s
Bennett/Braun (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 1min18.423s


Sixth row

Richard/Ende/Lewis (Oreca FLM09) - Dempsey - 1min18.466s
Marcelli/Downs/Stirling (Oreca FLM09) - Merchant - 1min18.500s


Seventh row

Nicolosi/Vera (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 1min18.725s
Prendeville/Mitchell/Da Costa (Radical SR10) - Libra - 1min21.539s


Eighth row

Ducote/Downs/Burgess (Oreca FLM09) - Merchant - 1min21.645s

Fernandez/Turner/Mucke (Aston Martin Vantage) - Aston Martin - 1min22.229s


Ninth row

Gavin/Milner (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 1min22.661s

Mueller/Auberlen (BMW M3) - Rahal - 1min22.905s


10th row

Bergmeister/Long/Lietz (Porsche 997) - Flying Lizard - 1min22.919s

Magnussen/Garcia (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 1min22.919s


11th row

Sharp/Van Overbeek (Ferrari 458) - Extreme Speed - 1min22.923s
Hand/Mueller (BMW M3) - Rahal - 1min22.939s


12th row

Brown/Cosmo (Ferrari 458) - Extreme Speed - 1min22.942s

Henzler/Sellers (Porsche 997) - Falken - 1min23.356s


13th row

Miller/Maassen (Porsche 997 Cup) - Miller - 1min23.448s

Sweedler/Bell (Lotus Evora) - Alex Job - 1min24.473s


14th row

Neiman/Holzer (Porsche 997) - Flying Lizard - 1min26.787s
LeSaffre/Faulkner/Bleekemolen (Porsche 997 Cup) - Green Hornet - 1min27.495s


15th row

Hedfunf/Krohn/Tandy (Porsche 997 Cup) - 1min27.670s

Curtis/Bleekemolen/DI Guida - 1min27.673s


16th row

Cumming/Marsh/Ragginger (Porsche 997 Cup) - JDX - 1min28.155s
Faieta/Avenatti/Wagner (Porsche 997 Cup) - Competition - 1min28.618s


17th row

MacNeil/Lazzaro (Porsche 997 Cup) - Alex Job - 1min28.641s

Sofronas/Welch/Villeneuve (Porsche 997 Cup) - GMG - 1min29.298s


18th row

Plowman/Hansson/Pizzonia (Morgan-Judd) - Conquest - no time

Source: ItaliaRacing.net