Defending American Le Mans Series LMP2 class champions Level 5 Motorsports picked up where they left off in 2012, with Ryan Briscoe and Ryan Hunter-Reay qualifying their HPD ARX-03bs first and second, respectively Friday at Sebring International Raceway in preparation for Saturday’s 61st 12 Hours of Sebring.

In LMP1, defending class champion Muscle Milk/Pickett Racing will start fourth, after a tight qualifying battle with the Rebellion Racing Lolas of Nick Heidfeld and Andea Belicchi.

After fending off a challenge from the Greaves Motorsports Zytek-Nissan of Tom Kimber-Smith in the first half of the single qualifying session, the LMP2 battle came down to a duel between teammates, with Briscoe edging the second Level 5 HPD ARX-03b by 12-hundredths of a second in the final five minutes

Ryan Briscoe(driver, #551 Level 5 Racing HPD ARX-03b) qualified on LMP2 class pole, 7th overall:  “This feels great, it’s awesome to be back here at Sebring.  All the guys at HPD, Honda and Level 5 have been working extremely hard since we got here, and we have a great car for the race.  Qualifying was really close with Ryan [Hunter-Reay].  We always ran really close in IndyCars, and it’s carried over to here.  I love these cars and this track, and I’m really happy for the team for us to be starting 1-2.”