Dixon keeps de Ferran team on top

Scott Dixon kept de Ferran Motorsports on top of the time sheets at Sebring International Raceway on Wednesday morning. The reigning Indy 500 and IndyCar champion turned a lap of 1:45.671 (126.052 mph) on the third and final day of the American Le Mans Series’ annual Winter Test at Sebring.

Two more sessions are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The Series will be back at Sebring in less than two months for the season-opening 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, the 100th race in Series history.

The new Acura ARX-02a that Dixon drove Wednesday morning has been fastest in all but one of the six sessions so far. Teammate Simon Pagenaud has the week’s quickest time, a 1:44.814 (127.082 mph) from Tuesday morning. His time bettered Marco Werner’s standing qualifying record around the famed 17-turn, 3.7-mile layout, set in 2007 in an Audi R10 TDI. Pagenaud, Dixon and team owner Gil de Ferran will team for the 12 Hours.

Acura’s other P1 entry from Patr¢n Highcroft Racing was second quickest Wednesday morning despite turning just eight laps. The car of David Brabham, Scott Sharp and Dario Franchitti posted a quick time of 1:46.157 (125.475 mph) before an electrical issue arose during the session.

Dyson Racing’s Mazda-powered Lola B08/86 coupe hit the circuit for the first time this week. Chris Dyson did all the work in the morning with a best lap of 1:49.462 (121.686 mph).

Richard Lietz went fastest in GT2 for Farnbacher Loles Racing and its new 2009-spec Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. A Porsche factory driver, Lietz set a time of 2:02.960 (108.328 mph) in the car that he is driving with full-season partners Dirk Werner and Wolf Henzler.

Lietz outpaced the Flying Lizard Motorsports duo of Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, also driving a Porsche 911, by less than 0.7 seconds. A second Flying Lizard Porsche, driven by Johannes van Overbeek, Darren Law and Seth Neiman, was third in class at 2:04.536 (106.957 mph).