The No. 7 Peugeot 908 of Marc Gene, Alexander Wurz and Anthony Davidson set the fastest lap in Thursday night practice. Photo credit: Rick Dole for Michelin North America

As the sun set on the first full day of practice at Sebring International Raceway, the car at the top of the timesheets changed as well. Peugeot rose to the occasion courtesy of its shortest, but one of its fastest drivers, Anthony Davidson.

Davidson, the British driver who co-drove the winning 908 HDi FAP a year ago at Sebring with Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene, set the bar at 1:48.901 in the new 2011 specification Peugeot 908. Tom Kristensen in the No. 2 Audi R15 TDI was next up at 1:49.370.

One of each of the diesels were all that dipped below 1:50 in the 1 hour, 45 minute night practice session that is always one of the highlights of Sebring race week.

Elsewhere in the land of prototypes, the repaired Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing Lola coupe returned to the track and matter-of-factly set the fastest time for a gasoline-powered car. The car piloted by Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr timed in at 1:51.135, sixth overall, and seven tenths ahead of the Highcroft HPD ARX-01e. The Muscle Milk AMR car suffered a small fire in the engine bay in the morning session and the crew put in a stellar effort to bring the car back to life.

GT saw another new team and face at the top, with Extreme Speed Ferrari team owner and co-driver Scott Sharp setting fast time. Sharp maximized his new No. 001 Ferrari F458 Italia with a time of 2:02.380, nearly a full three tenths of a second up on the No. 04 Corvette Racing Corvette ZR1 at 2:02.678.

A trio of Ferraris came next with the Risi Ferrari F458 ahead of two ILMC-entered Ferraris, the AF Corse F430 and Luxury Racing F458. With the No. 045 Flying Lizard Porsche in sixth, Michelin technical partner teams swept the top six of the highly competitive class heading into tomorrow’s crucial day of practice and qualifying.

There was a change at the top of the P2 category as well. Level 5 Motorsports showed its prowess with its open-top No. 055 Lola HPD edging ahead of the Signatech Oreca 03 Nissan, the previous class leader. Dane Cameron in his American Le Mans Series debut moved Genoa Racing to the top of the LMP Challenge category.

Practice resumes at 10:40 a.m. ET Friday morning with qualifying set to kick off at 3:00 p.m. ET.