Joey Hand, No. 56 BMW Team RLL BMW M3, took the GT class pole at Long Beach. Photo credit: Rick Dole for Michelin North America

Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW didn’t score a single pole position in 2010, but the defending GT manufacturer and team champions of last season have erased that statistic in 2011.

Sacramento, Calif.’s Joey Hand nabbed the Long Beach pole position at a time of 1:19.090 in the No. 56 BMW M3. Teammate Bill Auberlen of Redondo Beach, Calif. made it a BMW 1-3 on the grid in the No. 55 car at 1:19.447.

“Track position is everything here … I’ve been on pole here before in another series and it helps a lot,” Hand said. “This car was so ‘money’ it surprised me.”

The BMWs left Jan Magnussen of Corvette Racing in a sandwich, as the Dane took the No. 4 Corvette C6.R to the outside pole position in class. Magnussen and Hand exchanged the top spot throughout the 15-minute session, and Magnussen’s time of 1:19.137 confirmed P2 on the grid.

“The race was tight last year and we will see the same thing tomorrow,” he said. “Last year qualifying was more spread out.”

Morning practice leader Patrick Long lines up fourth in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, at a time of 1:19.463.

The top four all eclipsed last year’s pole time of 1:19.581 set by Jaime Melo in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT.

Melo, now in Risi’s new Ferrari F458 Italia for 2011, had an unlucky and fraught session after losing the rear wing on his car. Melo and co-driver Toni Vilander start at the rear of the field for Saturday’s two-hour race.