The two Aston Martins went quickest in the first part of qualifying for the Hypercars, with Ross Gunn in the #007 setting a 1:47.290, 0.131 faster than his teammate, Marco Sorensen, in the #009. Third fastest was Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota, 0.210 off Gunn.
Third was Jean-Eric Vergne in the #93 Peugeot, while fifth was Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota.
Once the drivers had their tyres up to temperature in the 12 minute session, the representative laps started coming thick and fast. First Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari set a 1:47.949. #8 Toyota Brendon Hartley then went a tenth quicker, followed by Vergne, then Kobayashi with a 1:47.500.
However, the two Astons stole the show. Sorensen came across the line to set a 1:47.421, with Gunn beating him by just over a tenth with a 1:47.290.
Two championship challengers made it through to Hyperpole: the #12 Cadillac of Alex Lynn, and the #51 Ferrari, with Antonio Giovinazzi behind the wheel. The other two in contention for the drivers title, the #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica, was 12th, and Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche, 18th and last, 1.867 seconds off Gunn. The Frenchman locked up at turn 1, going off track and likely causing a large flatspot and vibrations for the rest of the session.
Otherwise, Antonio Fuoco was 11th in the #50 Ferrari, with Kubica 12th. Jules Gounon set a late flyer to improve to 13th in the #36 Alpine, but wasn’t quick enough for Hyperpole. Earl Bamber took 14th in the #38 Cadillac, with Charles Milesi 15th in the #35 Alpine.
16th was Sheldon van der Linde in the #15 BMWE, while Nico Varrone in the #99 Proton Porsche was 17th, with Estre 18th and rounding out the field.
Going into Hyperpole for the Hypercars, Dries Vanthoor was the first to set a representative lap, a 1:48.136. Giovinazzi then beat him with a 1:47.726, but this was soon itself beaten by Lynn, with a 1:47.543.
The two Toyotas, though, looked formidable. Brendon Hartley initially took provisional pole with a 1:46.977 in the #8 Toyota, before teammate Kobayashi in the #7 car crossed the line to go a tenth and a bit faster with a 1:46.826.
The tyres past their best, the two Toyotas pitted, their jobs done. The two Peugeot slotted into third and fourth, but were unable to beat the Toyotas, with Jakobsen third and Vergne fourth.
Fifth went to Alex Lynn in the #12 Cadillac. The two Aston Martins could not repeat their initial qualifying performance, with Sorensen only managing sixth, with a lap slower than his pace-setting lap earlier.
7th was Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari, while Julien Andlauer took 8th in the #5 Porsche, the factory Penske-run team’s last WEC race. Ross Gunn took ninth in the #007 Aston Martin, while Dries Vanthoor rounded out the top 10 in the #15 BMW.
Gehrsitz takes LMGT3 pole for Lexus
Martin Berry went fastest in the initial LMGT3 qualifying, with the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG driver setting a 2:02.991, the only driver to get into the 2:02s in the session. Second was Arnold Robin in the #78 ASP Lexus, followed by Stefano Gattuso in the #88 Proton Ford Mustang.
Berry set his session-topping time early in the session, beating out his rivals, none of whom were able to get below the 2:03 marker. Robin came in with a flyer late on but was 3 hundredths slower.
Thomas Flohr, meanwhile, did a single initial out lap in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, before pitting. The car was pushed back into the garage for replacing the alternator belt and emerged later, but Flohr could not do better than 16th, almost 1.5s off Berry.
So, unable to get into the top 10 for Hyperpole were Ben Keating, in the #33 TF Sport Corvette, Darren Leung in the #95 United Autosports McLaren, Bernando Sousa in the #77 Proton Ford, Tom van Rompuy in the #81 TF Sport Corvette, the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman of Anthony McIntosh, Flohr in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, and both Porsches, Ryan Hardwick in the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm car and Celia Martin in the #85 Iron Dames machine.
The cars through to Hyperpole exited the pits, including both WRT BMWs, both ASP Lexuses, both Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMGs, plus an AF Corse Ferrari, United Autosports McLaren, a Ford Proton, and Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
Straight away, Finn Gehrsitz in the #78 Lexus came in and set a 2:01.862 to go fastest. The young German wasn’t beaten during the session, and this lap was quick enough for pole. However, the 21-year-old later set an even better lap, 2 tenths up, a 2:01.661.
Behind Gehrsitz were the two Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMGs. Initially Lin Hodenius was the faster of the two, first setting a 2:02.106 and then improving to a 2:02.017.
However, his teammate Lorcan Hanefin bettered him by 3 hundredths, setting a :201.987 to take the front row position alongside Gehrsitz.
Fourth was Clemens Schmid in the sister #87 ASP Lexus, with fifth going to Timur Bogslavskiy in the #31 WRT BMW.
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