Christian Fittipaldi scored the pole position for Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda in an incident-marred and eventually truncated Prototype qualifying session at Road Atlanta.
For Fittipaldi, it's his first and Action Express Racing's second pole of the season (Sebastien Bourdais, Sebring). Fittipaldi set a best time of 1:14.508 in the No. 5 Corvette DP.
Fittipaldi led a Corvette DP 1-2-3 sweep after drivers were able to bank only, at most, two or three flying laps. There were two red flags, and the session ran over its allotted time limit but was extended an extra five minutes to provide more than the minimum 10 minutes of green flag time.
Alex Brundle stopped on track in the No. 42 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda at Turn 10 barely a minute into the Prototype qualifying session, which brought out a red flag. Brundle was unable to set a time for the remainder of the session.
That wasn't the only incident. Shortly after the green flag was displayed, Tristan Nunez spun at Turn 3 in the No. 07 SpeedSource Mazda SKYACTIV-D. Brian Frisselle, in the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, then hit the stricken Mazda to cause the second red flag.
Once the session got going Fittipaldi was quickest out of the gate. He'll share the pole-winning entry with Joao Barbosa and Bourdais; the former two look to secure the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype championship.
Ricky Taylor, in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP, got into second at 1:14.797 with Richard Westbrook third in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP at 1:14.920.
Scott Pruett clocked in fourth in the No. 01 Riley-Ford for Chip Ganassi Racing, while Katherine Legge took the revised DeltaWing coupe into a top-five grid position at just 0.809 of a second off the overall pole.
Jack Hawksworth scored his first, and RSR Racing's fifth, pole of the season in Prototype Challenge with a best time of 1:16.210 in the No. 08 Oreca FLM09.
The Englishman has been unlucky to convert pace into victories since a debut win driving with Chris Cumming at Indianapolis. He, Cumming and Rusty Mitchell look for the team's second win of the year on Saturday.
It was an RSR 1-2 with Bruno Junqueira moving into second at the end of the session, at 1:16.471 in the No. 09 Oreca FLM09. He looks for his first win of the year with Duncan Ende and David Heinemeier Hansson.
Tom Kimber-Smith slotted into third in the No. 25 8Star Motorsports Oreca FLM09 (1:16.599) that he'll share with Sean Rayhall and Eric Lux.
Kimber-Smith briefly toppled Hawksworth before the IndyCar rising star laid down his eventual pole time.
The No. 54 CORE autosport and No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entries completed the top five. CORE seeks to win all four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup races if they can convert a win on Saturday.
Nick Tandy became the 11th different polesitter in 11 races in GT Le Mans, as the Englishman took his Porsche North America entry to top qualifying honors.
Tandy reeled off a best lap of 1:18.350 in his No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR, outpacing the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia of Giancarlo Fisichella in the 15-minute session, which was run in dry conditions.
It marked the CORE autosport-run Porsche NA squad's second pole of the season but the first for the No. 911 car which Tandy will share with Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet in Saturday's 10-hour enduro.
Tandy searches for back-to-back class wins in the race, having been part of the victorious Team Falken Tire squad here last year.
Bryan Sellers made it two Porsches in the top-three as he took his privateer Team Falken Tire entry to a quick lap of 1:18.804, ahead of the championship-leading No. 93 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R of Jonathan Bomarito in fourth.
The top-five was completed by the No. 912 Porsche of Michael Christensen, which out-qualified both the factory Corvette C7.Rs and the BMW Team RLL-run BMW Z4 GTEs.
Title contender Antonio Garcia will start sixth in his No. 3 Corvette, with the No. 91 Viper, which features co-championship leader Kuno Wittmer, was 8th in class.
The top-nine in class was separated by 0.906 seconds.
James Davison scored his fourth consecutive pole in GT Daytona, taking his No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to a quick lap of 1:22.254.
The Australian edged out the No. 58 Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT America of Jan Heylen by 0.141 seconds, with Kevin Estre qualifying the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche in a season-best third.
Davison, who will share driving duties with David Block, Christina Nielsen and Al Carter on Saturday, will be looking to translate the pole run into TRG's first win of the season.
Jeroen Bleekemolen qualified the Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R in fourth, while championship leader Dane Cameron will roll off fifth in his Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3.
Other title contenders Alex Job Racing and AIM Autosport will start from 8th and 12th, respectively.
The 17th annual Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda takes the green flag Saturday at 11:15 a.m. ET. The entire race will be streamed live on FOX Sports Go with TV coverage beginning at 3p ET on FOX Sports 2.
