The GT class saw Porsche sweep of the top four starting positions, with Nick Tandy storming to the class pole.

The newest Porsche factory driver turned a scorching 1:47.631 lap time in his Konrad Motorsport/Orbit Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to edge out the No. 44 Magnus Racing entry of Andy Lally by nearly two-tenths.

Nick Tandy drove his Konrad Motorsport/Orbit Porsche to the pole in GT. (Photo: John Dagys)

It marked the latest achievement for the 28-year-old Englishman, who was crowned the 2012 Porsche Cup champion following his successful season in European GT competition.

"We went out rather later in the session to try and attain the lap time we were pushing for without pushing the tires too hard," said Tandy, who will share his No. 32 Porsche with Michael Christensen, Christian Engelhart and Lance Willsey.

"It was just a case of finding a clear lap, which I managed to do, which was probably more than a lot of the guys did. But it was a good lap."

Lally placed the defending race-winning Magnus Racing Porsche in second, with 24 Hours of Dubai winner Sean Edwards qualifying third in his Momo/NGT entry. Porsche factory driver Patrick Long was fourth in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche.

The quickest non-Porsche was the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am, which completed the top-five in class.

Shane Lewis will go down in the history books as the first-ever pole-sitter in the new GX class, with the veteran turning a best time of 1:54.606 in his Napleton Racing Porsche Cayman.

Lewis' lap was nearly four seconds quicker than the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Cayman, which wound up second in class. The quickest Mazda6 came from the Freedom Autosport contingent, which wound up third with a 2:00.740 lap time.

“I had to do the pole, not for me, but just for the crew,” Lewis said. “They have put in so much hard work and effort on everything since November. It’s been tireless day in and day out.

"When they gave me the ‘knuckle bump’ before qualifying, they were so excited! You could tell they really, really wanted it, and it makes you dig deeper for those guys. But in the same time, you don’t take risks. It was a clean lap, no risks involved, but it was fast just for them.”

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RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at