Action Express Racing may not have shone bright in the morning practice session but Christian Fittipaldi made up for that in qualifying with a pole setting lap.

Fittipaldi led a Chevrolet Daytona Prototype with Ricky Taylor also putting the Wayne Taylor Racing entry on the front row of the grid.

Mid way through the session a red flag brought things to a halt when Marc Goosens spun the Visit Florida DP at the hairpin.

His car was then struck by the Mazda of Tristan Nunez. To join in the fun, the second Mazda of Tom Long was also delayed in the incident.

Both Mazda entries recovered to finish third and fifth in qualifying – a strong performance on home soil for the brand. Earlier the Japanese marque led an IMSA practice overall with Jonathan Bomarito at the wheel.

“I just didn’t manage to do a very quick lap in the practice, but I knew in the qualifying session I wouldn’t have any traffic so I just had to put two laps together and we were able to do that,” Fittipaldi said.

“Long Beach is very special, it’s (uncle) Emerson’s last pole here and he had a couple of wins here in IndyCar. I started running in 95, I came close a couple of times but never had a good run at this place.

“In this series, to be honest, it’s been pretty tough for us, but I’m very happy to have turned the page right now. As a team we are really happy and we’re looking to bring the car to the end, and if the car does like it did today, I think we can come out really big.”

Goosen’s car was unable to complete additional laps while the Honda-powered P2 car of John Pew was only eighth fastest and 11th overall.

.@fittitweet in the media center after winning the #TOTAL pole for the #BUBBAGP in the @mustangsampling #CorvetteDP pic.twitter.com/FmjAcuBQgg

— Action Express (@AX_Racing) April 16, 2016

And taking the overall #BubbaGP P1, congrats to the No. 5 @AX_Racing #CorvetteDP of @fittitweet, @barbosaracing! pic.twitter.com/2iwrRfA1NP

— Team Chevy (@TeamChevy) April 16, 2016

Take a @Racermag lap of @ToyotaGPLB with @MazdaRacing‘s @JBomarito during his quick lap in practice this morning -> https://t.co/WOjKsEbXIQ

— IMSA (@IMSA) April 15, 2016

Most disappointing second place qualifying I’ve had. Hit the wall on lap 3. Team gave me a great car. My fault, tomorrow is another day.

— Ricky Taylor (@RickyTaylor_10) April 16, 2016

This is what started it with @marcthegoose. We're green again.https://t.co/PLvEi5O5CB pic.twitter.com/9K1C6fYEfI

— Michelin Alley (@MichelinAlley) April 16, 2016

Then this happened when @tristannunez joined the party.https://t.co/PLvEi5O5CB pic.twitter.com/uiMEDpTaY3

— Michelin Alley (@MichelinAlley) April 16, 2016

Ouch! pic.twitter.com/89zRexTnz2

— Michelin Alley (@MichelinAlley) April 16, 2016

//www.imsatiming.com/Results/2016/WeatherTech%20Championship/03-Long%20Beach/WeatherTech%20Championship%20Long%20Beach%20Qualifying.pdf