SEBRING, Fl — Although there may have been some doubt whether Audi could recover from its racetrack gaffe of Thursday evening, when Marcel Fassler rammed teammate Loic Duval,  the vaunted German team left no doubt as they qualified one, two, and three, led by the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans winning team of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer, and Benoît Tréluyer. It was Lotterer who was at the wheel of the R18 TDI that earned the honors for the fast lap when he pushed the diesel-powered Audi around the track .751 seconds faster than last year’s top time (1m 45.820s). The drive is even more remarkable when one considers the additional restrictions to the diesel-powered cars in 2012.

This is the 10th time an Audi will enter the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance classic race in Florida from the pole position. Tom Kristensen took position two and Romain Dumas earned the third spot on the grid, giving the Audi the top three spots.

The three Audis led a field of 64 cars that qualified for the 60th running of the race. The race this year is also the kick-off of the FIA’s World Endurance Championship which has brought additional notoriety to a race that already has a strong cache of interest among car racing enthusiasts.

After the three Audis, Muscle Milk Pickett Racing’s Klaus Graf was the fastest non-diesel entry at 1:47.536 (125.205 mph). Pickett drives the team’s HPD ARX-03a with Lucas Luhr and Simon Pagenaud. Graf was the quickest qualifier from the ALMS, and his performance was remarkable given that the Muscle Milk got its car less than two months ago.

Oak Racing’s Morgan-Judd was the fastest of the P2 cars with Olivier Pla doing the driving honors. He was 0.356 seconds clear of ex-Peugeot factory driver Stephane Sarrazin in Starworks Motorsports’ HPD ARX-03b. Elton Julian, a regular last year in the ALMS’ Prototype Challenge class, was third in P2 qualifying Friday at 1:51.809 (120.420 mph).

Gimmi Bruni was the fastest GTE Pro driver with a lap of 1:58.427 (113.690 mph) for AF Corse as Ferrari F458 Italias took the top two spots in the GT class. The Italian was the pole-winner last year in the a Ferarri F430 GT – also for AF Corse. Bruni finished 0.296 seconds clear of Luxury Racing’s Jaime Melo.

Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen qualified third in class and was the ALMS’ fastest driver in the production-based class. He set a lap of 1:58.996 (113.147 mph) in the Corvette C6.R that he is sharing with Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor. Magnussen was just 0.011 seconds clear of Oliver Gavin in the sister Corvette.

Top 10 qualifiers:

1. Andre Lotterer, Duisburg, DE (DE); Benoit Treluyer, Alencon, FR (FR); Marcel Fassler, Switzerland (SWI); Audi R18 (P1), 1:45.820, 125.874
2. Allan McNish, Scotland (SCO); Tom Kristensen, Denmark (DEN); Dindo Capello, Italy (ITA); Audi R18 (P1), 1:46.215, 125.406
3. Timo Bernhard, Germany (GER); Romain Dumas, France (FRA); Loic Duval, France (FR); Audi R18 (P1), 1:46.935, 124.562
4. Lucas Luhr, Germany (GER); Klaus Graf, Germany (GER); Simon Pagenaud, France (FRA); HPD ARX-03a (P1), 1:47.536, 123.865
5. Guillaume Moreau, FRA (FRA); Bertrand Baguette, BEL (BEL); Dominik Kraihamer, AUT (AUT); Oak Pescarolo Judd (P1), 1:48.319, 122.970
6. David Brabham, Australia (AUS); Karun Chandhok, IND (IND); Peter Dumbreck, Scotland (SCO); HPD ARX-03a Honda (P1), 1:48.439, 122.834
7. Nick Leventis, GBR (GBR); Danny Watts, UK (UK); Jonny Kane, Ireland (IRE); HPD ARX-03a Honda (P1), 1:48.590, 122.663
8. Nicolas Prost (FR); Neel Jani (FR); Nick Heidfeld (DEU); Lola B12/60 Coupe Toyota (P1), 1:48.630, 122.618
9. Andrea Belicchi, Itally (IT); Harold Primat, Switzerland (SWI); Joeren Bleekemolen, Netherlands (NED); Lola B12/60 Coupe Toyota (P1), 1:48.956, 122.251
10. Emmanuel Collard, France (FRA); Jean-Christophe Boullion, Plaisir, France (FRA); Julien Jousse, FRA (FRA); Pescarolo Judd (P1), 1:50.200, 120.871