Timo Bernhard stole the thunder from Gil de Ferran and de Ferran Motorsports at Miller Motorsports Park with a stunning pole position run for Porsche and Penske Racing in qualifying for the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels.
Bernhard turned a lap of 1m 31.050s (120.514 mph) in the Porsche RS Spyder he will share with Romain Dumas.
Bernhard edged out de Ferran, making his return to racing and debut in the American Le Mans Series, by 0.139 seconds. de Ferran, who last raced in 2003, nevertheless will start on the front row after a lap of 1m 31.189s (120.330 mph) in the Acura ARX-01b he will drive with Simon Pagenaud.
"It was very thrilling," said Bernhard, who is on pole for the 12th time in his Series career. "I didn't plan it. I wanted to go out earlier but it worked out. I know Gil de Ferran is a great and successful race car driver. I didn't know how much time they really had for testing and it's really impressive they have come out here and be fast right out for the first time."
Bernhard's pole lap came on his final pass. He had pitted with about five minutes left for fuel and was given the option of calling it a day or taking on more fuel. He obviously made the right choice as he improved his time on each of his final three circuits.
"There were only four minutes left and if the tyres were not so good on the out lap, I would just come back in," Bernhard said. "But the first lap was very good and I knew the tyres were very good. So during the next lap I picked my points that I knew I could improve on. I put everything together, had a great lap and thought that was the best I could do. Then I knew I had one more so I tried to push even more knowing I was already good. Then as I came across and was even better."
The top five cars were from the LMP2 class as they took advantage of superior cornering abilities on the 3.048-mile, 15-turn circuit. Luis Diaz was third for Lowe's Fernandez Racing and Acura, just 0.292 seconds behind Bernhard. Diaz will team with Adrian Fernandez.
