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<strong> Le Mans Q3:</strong> Kobayashi claims pole and heads Toyota 1-2

Le Mans Q3: Kobayashi claims pole and heads Toyota 1-2

Published on 13 Jun 2019 23:04
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By: Fergal Walsh

The #7 Toyota has claimed pole position for the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, ahead of its sister #8 car.

The fastest lap of qualifying was set in Q2 earlier in the evening by Kamui Kobayashi, who laid down a 3:15.497, which was four-tenths ahead of the #8 entry.

Toyota spent much of the session working on its long-run pace, with the set to get underway on Saturday afternoon. Behind Toyota, SMP Racing and Rebellion Racing set the third and fourth fastest times with the #17 car heading the #3.

Toyota predicted that SMP Racing would give it a challenge for pole position, however in the end, it was over six-tenths down on the pace.

The third row in the LMP1 class sees the second SMP and Rebellion cars, while DragonSpeed and ByKolles Racing completing the LMP1 grid the latter improving by six-tenths from Q2 to Q3.

LMP2

Despite DragonSpeed's consistent impressive speed throughout qualifying, the team didn't manage to secure pole in the LMP2 class.

Although it improved by almost a second from the second session earlier on Thursday, Graff and TDS Racing managed to improve nicely to secure 9th and 10th overall, and the front row in their class.

TDS Racing's position also means it is the highest placed car running the Dunlop tyres.

Signatech Alpine Matmut improved only very slightly on its time and had to settle for fourth alongside DragonSpeed.

There were consistent gaps in the LMP2 class as roughly two-tenths to four-tenths separated each car all the way down to the #32 United Autosports car, who was 10th in the category.

The #32 car narrowly beat High Class Racing and Panis Barthez Competition to 10th, with just two-tenths of a second between the three cars.

GTE

In a thrilling battle for pole in the GTE Pro class, it was Aston Martin Racing that came out on top, with the #95 car improving its time by almost three seconds from Q2.

The car narrowly beat Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK to the class pole, with just over a tenth separating the two cars. Behind them, there was a big gap to Corvette Racing and Porsche, who were over seven-tenths down.

There was another close fight between the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK, the #69 Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA and the #64 Corvette Racing cars, who were 9th, 10th and 11th in the Pro class, setting times within half a tenth of each other.

One GTE Am car went faster than a Pro entry, as the #89 Dempsey-Proton Racing machine pipped Risi Competizione.

Dempsey-Proton was delivered a hit earlier today when it confirmed that it would have to withdraw its #99 car following a heavy crash for Tracy Krohn on Wednesday during practice.

However, the #77 Dempsey-Proton car was the second fastest GTE Am entry, beating Gulf Racing and JMW Motorsport to a front row start in that class.

Pos.	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	3:15.497
2	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Fernando Alonso	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	3:15.908	0.411
3	Stéphane Sarrazin Egor Orudzhev Sergey Sirotkin	BR Engineering BR1	LMP1	3:16.159	0.662
4	Thomas Laurent Nathanael Berthon Gustavo Menezes	Rebellion R13	LMP1	3:16.404	0.907
5	Vitaly Petrov Mikhail Aleshin Stoffel Vandoorne	BR Engineering BR1	LMP1	3:16.665	1.168
6	Neel Jani Andre Lotterer Bruno Senna	Rebellion R13	LMP1	3:16.810	1.313
7	Henrik Hedman Ben Hanley Renger van der Zande	BR Engineering BR1	LMP1	3:20.200	4.703
8	Tom Dillmann Oliver Webb Paolo Ruberti	ENSO CLM P1/01	LMP1	3:23.109	7.612
9	Tristan Gommendy Vincent Capillaire Jonathan Hirschi	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:25.073	9.576
10	François Perrodo Matthieu Vaxiviere Loic Duval	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:25.345	9.848
11	Roberto Gonzalez Pastor Maldonado Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:25.667	10.170
12	Nicolas Lapierre Andre Negrao Pierre Thiriet	Alpine A470	LMP2	3:25.874	10.377
13	Paul Lafargue Paul-Loup Chatin Memo Rojas	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:26.011	10.514
14	Roman Rusinov Job Van Uitert Jean-Eric Vergne	Aurus 01	LMP2	3:26.257	10.760
15	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	3:26.543	11.046
16	Ho-Pin Tung Stéphane Richelmi Gabriel Aubry	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:26.821	11.324
17	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Dallara P217	LMP2	3:27.107	11.610
18	Ryan Cullen Alex Brundle	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	3:27.509	12.012
19	Anders Fjordbach Dennis Andersen Mathias Beche	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:27.610	12.113
20	Rene Binder Julien Canal Will Stevens	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	3:27.790	12.293
21	David Heinemeier Hansson Jordan King Ricky Taylor	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:28.049	12.552
22	Nico Jamin Pierre Ragues Romain Dumas	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:28.195	12.698
23	David Zollinger Andrea Pizzitola John Falb	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:28.457	12.960
24	John Farano Arjun Maini Norman Nato	Oreca 07	LMP2	3:28.803	13.306
25	Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Andrea Belicchi	Dallara P217	LMP2	3:28.942	13.445
26	Jakub Smiechowski James Winslow Nigel Moore	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	3:30.744	15.247
27	Miro Konopka Henning Enqvist Konstantin Tereshchenko	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	3:34.146	18.649
28	Erwin Creed Romano Ricci Nicholas Boulle	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	3:34.913	19.416
29	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	3:48.000	32.503
30	Andy Priaulx Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	3:48.112	32.615
31	Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Corvette C7R	LMGTE PRO	3:48.830	33.333
32	Patrick Pilet Earl Bamber Nick Tandy	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	3:48.907	33.410
33	Augusto Farfus Antonio Felix da Costa Jesse Krohn	BMW M8 GTE	LMGTE PRO	3:49.108	33.611
34	Joey Hand Dirk Muller Sébastien Bourdais	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	3:49.116	33.619
35	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	3:49.196	33.699
36	Davide Rigon Sam Bird Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	3:49.391	33.894
37	Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla Billy Johnson	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	3:49.511	34.014
38	Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Scott Dixon	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	3:49.546	34.049
39	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fassler	Chevrolet Corvette C7R	LMGTE PRO	3:49.573	34.076
40	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	3:49.655	34.158
41	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	3:49.921	34.424
42	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	3:50.037	34.540
43	Sven Muller Mathieu Jaminet Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	3:50.278	34.781
44	Nick Catsburg Martin Tomczyk Philipp Eng	BMW M8 GTE	LMGTE PRO	3:51.353	35.856
45	Satoshi Hoshino Giorgio Roda Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	3:51.439	35.942
46	Pipo Derani Oliver Jarvis Jules Gounon	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	3:51.454	35.957
47	Matt Campbell Christian Ried Julien Andlauer	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	3:51.645	36.148
48	Michael Wainwright Benjamin Barker Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	3:51.944	36.447
49	Jeff Segal Rodrigo Baptista Wei Lu	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:52.423	36.926
50	Louis Prette Philippe Prette Vincent Abril	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	3:52.434	36.937
51	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey Egidio Perfetti	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	3:52.750	37.253
52	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:52.826	37.329
53	Takeshi Kimura Kei Cozzolino Côme Ledogar	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:53.474	37.977
54	Ben Keating Jeroen Bleekemolen Felipe Fraga	Ford GT	LMGTE AM	3:53.492	37.995
55	Claudio Schiavoni Andrea Piccini Sergio Pianezzola	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:53.528	38.031
56	Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda	Aston Martin Vantage	LMGTE AM	3:53.530	38.033
57	Salih Yoluc Euan Hankey Charles Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage	LMGTE AM	3:53.606	38.109
58	Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Robert Smith	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:53.630	38.133
59	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Eddie Cheever III	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:54.051	38.554
60	Manuela Gostner Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:54.083	38.586
61	Luis Perez Companc Matthew Griffin Matteo Cressoni	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	3:54.799	39.302
62	Tracy Krohn Nic Jönsson Patrick Long	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM