United controlled the opening 45 minutes, but found themselves a goal down at the break. The second half belonged to Lincoln who were denied by two goal-line clearances before scoring late on to put the result beyond doubt.
Torquay began well but conceded a goal against the run of play after 12 minutes.
Lincoln midfielder Scott Kerr made space for himself inside the box before firing in a low shot which deflected off a defender, leaving keeper Andy Marriott well beaten.
Torquay caused the home team no end of problems with their movement up front and went close to an equaliser in the 31st minute.
Anthony Lloyd sent a deep cross into the box which was controlled by Morike Sako. The giant striker turned superbly around his marker, but his powerful shot was well saved by Lincoln keeper Alan Marriott.
Four minutes later experienced midfielder Darren Garner chipped a pass over the Lincoln defence into the box, but Lloyd was just beaten to the ball by Alan Marriott.
Just before the break Torquay had another chance when Colin Cryan fouled Jo Kuffour just outside the box.
Garner got plenty of power behind the free-kick but sent his effort over the wall and over the bar.
After the break it was a different story with Lincoln creating plenty of chances.
Simon Yeo set up ex-Torquay man Martin Gritton in the 53rd minute, but his shot was pushed out by Andy Marriott. The ball came back to Jeff Hughes but, with an empty net in front of him, the defender fired over.
Two minutes later a free-kick from Kerr was headed home by defender Jamie McCombe, only for the effort to be disallowed by referee Paul Robinson for a foul.
Then Yeo got behind the Torquay defence, but again the visitors were saved by Andy Marriott.
Torquay almost got an equaliser in the 73rd minute, when skipper James Sharp found Alex Lawles,s but the defender's header just cleared the bar.
Lincoln went close when Lee Beevers beat Andy Marriott, but his shot was blocked on the line by Steve Woods.
In the final frantic minutes, Lawless cleared a Hughes header off the line.
But Lincoln got a second goal in the 89th minute when Gary Birch set up Hughes and the Irishman got his first Football League goal from an acute angle.