New Zealander Earl Bamber scored his first TUDOR United SportsCar Championship pole position at Road America today, putting the No.912 911 RSR to the top spot after qualifying.

The Le Mans 24 hour winner smashed the track record using the new Michelin “single stinter” tires to stop the clocks at 2:02.384. He was one of five drivers to better the existing track record set by John Edwards’ BMW last year.

While there were smiles on one side of the Porsche paddock, the sister No.911 machine had a disappointing session with Patrick Pilet suffering technical issues and qualifying last of the GTLM class.

“It was a good day. The car was really hooked up. The first time I ever drove in the dry was this morning in free practice,” Bamber said.

“I tried to put a clean lap together. We just needed one lap, and then we just waited out the rest of the session. The Corvette got really close there at the end with 3 tenths of a second, but really happy to be starting on the pole.”

Bamber has returned to the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship after winning Le Mans overall with Nick Tander and F1 ace Nico Hülkenberg.

He will do battle tomorrow with German veteran Jorg Bergmeister.

“I think there is big momentum with Porsche. To get a win at Le Mans for the 17th time was incredible. Then we come back here and immediately get some good results,” Bamber said.

“We had a pole there at Watkins. Then to go on to Lime Rock and then the pole and the win. It’s a new team, but we’re really starting to know each other really, really well. It’s still four more races to the end of the season, but a lot of positive things are happening for Porsche today.”

Antonio Garcia put the No.3 Corvette into second place – the first weekend back aboard the chassis that was heavily damaged at Le Mans when Jan Magnussen suffered a stuck throttle.

Giancarlo Fisichella and John Edwards were third and fourth for Ferrari and BMW respectively – making it four different brands in the top four spots.

The GT Daytona pole went to Patrick Lindsey’s Porsche ahead of Ben Keating’s Viper.