The two Risi Ferraris start 1-2 in GT for Saturday's race at Mid-Ohio. Photo credit: Rick Dole for Michelin North America

The quest for Risi Competizione to capture its first class win at Mid-Ohio is helped by the team’s excellent qualifying run in advance of Saturday’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. The pair of Ferrari F430 GTs swept the front row with Toni Vilander on pole in the No. 61 and Gianmaria Bruni in the No. 62.

“We started the weekend with similar setups on both cars, then Giancarlo and I would take turns making small changes to the setup,” Vilander said of the team’s strategy. “From then you can compare those to previous race data. Having the other car with experience is a tremendous advantage.”

It’s Vilander’s second career pole in ALMS. The Finn and co-driver Giancarlo Fisichella, a Formula One veteran, make their second start this season after also racing in Utah.

The field is still very tightly bunched, as the top five are separated by 0.585 of a second and the top nine by 1.202. After the Risi Ferraris came the pair of Corvette Racing Corvette ZR1s, making it two Michelin technical partner teams and a total of four cars sweeping the top four positions.

Corvette has been much closer to the top of the time sheets this weekend. This is the first track Corvette has acquired previous setup data with its new GT2-specification car, which premiered at Mid-Ohio in 2009. Oliver Gavin in the No. 4 qualified ahead of Jan Magnussen in the No. 3.

It was very nearly a continuation of the “Noah’s Ark” theme of two of each manufacturer on Row 3 (two Ferraris, two Corvettes), as the two Rahal Letterman BMWs were lined up fifth and sixth for the majority of the session. But near the end Guy Cosmo snuck into the top six with the No. 02 Extreme Speed Ferrari.

Porsche has not quite cracked the top of the GT field this weekend through qualifying with Patrick Long the best of the three 911 GT3 RSRs in eighth place on the grid.

Jeroen Bleekemolen secured his fourth straight pole in the GTC class for Black Swan Racing.