Kamui Kobayashi has put Toyota Gazoo Racing on pole position for the 88th running of the 24 Hours Of Le Mans by setting the quickest time in the inaugural Hyperpole qualifying session.
Kobayashi set a 3:15:267 in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid to go quickest, half a second up on the #1 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Gustavo Menezes.
Menezes briefly went quickest in the early stages of the session before being toppled by Kobayashi, but Toyota failed to lock out the front row.
Kazuki Nakajima was third quickest in the #8 Toyota, three-tenths behind Menezes but over 1.5 seconds clear of the #3 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Louis Deletraz. The #4 ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01-Gibson of Tom Dillmann was third.
United Autosports momentum rolls on
Paul di Resta has continued United Autosports’ strong run of momentum in the FIA World Endurance Championship by taking pole position in LMP2.
Di Resta set a best time of #22 ORECA 07-Gibson of 3:24:528 early on which would not be topped by anybody. Jean-Eric Vergne came closest in the #26 Aurus 01-Gibson, but the French driver was 0.332s short.
Nyck de Vries did well to make it to third place in class after the #29 ORECA 07-Gibson had a spectacular off at the Porsche Curves, losing the rear and sliding across the gravel but avoiding contact with the wall.
De Vries was just under four-tenths faster than his Toyota colleague Kenta Yamashita in fourth place for High Class Racing, with the #32 United Autosports ORECA of Alex Brundle fifth ahead of Will Stevens in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA 07-Gibson.
Porsche win out in GTE Pro, Luzich Racing captures GTE Am
Gianmaria Bruni has put Porsche on pole position in GTE Pro with a best time of 3:50:874 in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19, 0.241s clear of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of James Calado.
Marco Sorensen leads an all-Aston Martin second row in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, ahead of Alex Lynn in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage, with just 0.083s separating the pair.
Sam Bird was fifth for AF Corse, while Michael Christensen was slowest of the six runners in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19.
Come Ledogar meanwhile put the #61 Luzich Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in pole in GTE Am, setting a 3:51:266 to beat out the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR of Matt Campbell and the Team Project 1 #56 Porsche of Matteo Cairoli.
Aston Martin lacked behind the Ferrari and Porsche competition after dominating Friday’s session, with Ross Gunn qualifying fourth in the #98 Aston Martin Racing ahead of Charlie Eastwood in #90 TF Sport Aston Martin in fifth. Ben Barker was sixth fastest in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR.
