Puegeot’s single car entry will start from pole for the 2008 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Stephane Sarrazin’s time of 1:06.242 (138.039 mph) just edged out the Audi Sport North America’s R10 of  Allan McNish by 0.085 seconds to set up another classic confrontation between the two giants of international sports prototype racing.

“We are very happy,“ said Sarrazin, who also captured pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the last two years for Peugeot. “It is very good for us and the team. We will focus now on a good start and a long race for tomorrow. It is a different target now than Sebring (in March). We were a newer car then and we did not finish. Then we advanced at Le Mans, so now we have even more time with the car.“

The rapid improvement in Le Mans racing was clearly evident as in the  top 15 qualifiers were all under

Audi are looking for their ninth straight Petit Le Mans victory

 Marco Werner’s pole-winning time of 1:08.906 (132.703 mph) from 2006, with Sarrazin 2.564 seconds under. Werner, himself qualified third in the second of the Audi R10 TDIs at 1:06.818 (136.849 mph).

Penske Racing’s Ryan Briscoe led a Porsche sweep of the top three qualifying positions in LMP2.

Briscoe made a triumphant return to Road Atlanta with a class-record pole run of 1:07.061 (136.353 mph) in one of Penske’s three Porsche RS Spyders that he will share with two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves.

Briscoe broke the one-year P2 record of Penske teammate Romain Dumas by 1.978 seconds. 

“It’s been fun getting back in the Porsche,“ he said. “It’s clear we have really fast cars out there. Being away for a bit you can really see the advancements that keep Porsche moving forward.“

Penske swept the top three qualifying spots in class as Sascha Maassen posted a lap of 1:07.401 (135.666 mph). He will drive with Patrick Long and Emmanuel Collard. It gives Porsche the advantage in a tight battle for the class manufacturer championship. Acura leads by just four points entering Road Atlanta with 55 points available over the final two races. Franck Montagny was the quickest Acura driver for Andretti Green Racing with the fourth-fastest time in P2.

Johnny O’Connell captured his second GT1 pole at Road Atlanta in three years with a record-breaking run of 1:16.542 (119.464 mph). He outpaced teammate Olivier Beretta by 0.047 seconds. O’Connell also was on pole for the 2006 race and the 2005 spring event at Road Atlanta.

As expected Corvette dominated GT1 qualifying

“I love this racetrack,“ O’Connell beamed. “Certainly with Corvette Racing we do some testing here. Michelin is great and it is my relationship with Panoz that first brought me to the area in 1999. Anytime you can out qualify Olivier, you’ve done a good job. One of the objectives is to qualify well, and I’ve stepped up my game.“

O’Connell and Jan Magnussen have won seven races this season entering Petit Le Mans. They lead the class championship by 23 points and have not trailed in the title chase after they won at Sebring with Ron Fellows. The trio are back together again, hoping to help O’Connell and Magnussen end Beretta and Oliver Gavin’s run of three straight class championships.

Jaime Melo earned his second straight Road Atlanta pole and third this season in GT2 for Risi Competizione and Ferrari. The Brazilian turned a lap of 1:19.399 (115.165 mph) in the Ferrari F430 GT that he will drive with Mika Salo. It was enough for a 0.057 advantage over Farnbacher Loles Racing’s Dirk Werner and his Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

“We found very good balance for the race,“ Melo said. “We are happy with the lap time. Porsche was very close as well. We were quite ahead of everyone yesterday. It’s a 10-hour race. Qualifying is important but we think about the total race.“

Dirk Mueller qualified Tafel Racing’s Ferrari third in class at 1:19.795 (114.594 mph). He will drive with Dominik Farnbacher.

The 1,000-mile/10-hour race is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. ET Saturday, October 4 from Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. SPEED will televise the race live with online video available from 1 to 6:30 p.m. ET on americanlemans.com. XM Satellite Radio will air live race coverage throughout the day on XM Channel 166. Live coverage from American Le Mans Radio will be available at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA’s Live Timing & Scoring.

With ALMS Media