Bianchi takes Le Mans pole

The French driver grabbed the top spot in the final minute of the session, robbing Stefano Coletti of what would have been a surprise pole position for the Prema Powerteam driver.

The Monegasque driver did improve his time marginally, but it was not enough to make any impression on Bianchi's stunning lap.

Championship leader Nico Hulkenberg will start Saturday's race from third on the grid, and his hopes of wrapping up the title sooner rather than later were boosted by Edoardo Mortara struggling down in 19th position.

Behind Hulkenberg, Sam Bird's impressive recent form appears to have carried into this weekend, as the British driver lines up fourth for Manor Motorsport.

After starting the session well, British F3 front-runner Brendon Hartley was bumped down the order, but his final lap of the session was good enough to vault him back up to the fifth position he held at the halfway stage.

However, the Carlin driver was one of several to have his best lap taken away after the session, as a flurry of times were set at the end while there were yellow flags out after James Jakes spun off.

That meant that Hartley dropped to 11th, promoting Koudai Tsukakoshi to fifth. Christian Vietoris had a spin at the end of his first run, but he recovered to take sixth on the grid.

Mika Maki, Dani Clos and Jean Karl Vernay complete the top 10, while Renger van der Zande was another to lose out due to the yellow flags, and he was moved back to 14th place having originally qualified ninth.

Pos  Driver                Team            Car  Time
 1.  Jules Bianchi         ART             D/M  1:31.328
 2.  Stefano Coletti       Prema           D/M  1:31.809  + 0.481
 3.  Nico Hulkenberg       ART             D/M  1:31.915  + 0.587
 4.  Sam Bird              Manor           D/M  1:32.023  + 0.695
 5.  Koudai Tsukakoshi     Manor           D/M  1:32.068  + 0.740
 6.  Christian Vietoris    Mucke           D/M  1:32.107  + 0.779
 7.  Erik Janis            Mucke           D/M  1:32.146  + 0.818
 8.  Mika Maki             Mucke           D/M  1:32.283  + 0.955
 9.  Daniel Clos           Prema           D/M  1:32.331  + 1.003
10.  Jean-Karl Vernay      Signature       D/V  1:32.365  + 1.037
11.  Brendon Hartley       RC              D/V  1:32.370  + 1.042
12.  Robert Wickens        Signature       D/V  1:32.457  + 1.129
13.  Jon Lancaster         ART             D/M  1:32.653  + 1.325
14.  Renger van der Zande  Prema           D/M  1:32.764  + 1.436
15.  Richard Philippe      Carlin          D/M  1:32.792  + 1.464
16.  Daniel Campos         HBR             D/M  1:32.807  + 1.479
17.  Franck Mailleux       Signature       D/V  1:32.814  + 1.486
18.  Henkie Waldschmidt    SG              D/M  1:32.830  + 1.502
19.  Edoardo Mortara       Signature       D/V  1:32.879  + 1.551
20.  Jens Klingmann        RC              D/V  1:32.887  + 1.559
21.  Yann Clairay          SG              D/M  1:32.907  + 1.579
22.  Kazuya Oshima         Manor           D/M  1:32.910  + 1.582
23.  Cheng Cong Fu         RC              D/V  1:32.989  + 1.661
24.  James Jakes           ART             D/M  1:33.130  + 1.802
25.  Nelson Panciatici     RC              D/V  1:33.209  + 1.881
26.  Rodolfo Gonzalez      Carlin          D/M  1:33.212  + 1.884
27.  Basil Shaaban         HBR             D/M  1:33.506  + 2.178
28.  Stephane Richelmi     Barazi-Epsilon  D/M  1:34.919  + 3.591