Werner leads Audi front row

Reigning champion Capello was within 0.1 seconds of the lap record on his first lap, but Werner's opening effort was another nine-tenths quicker, guaranteeing the German returnee pole position. Although Capello tried to respond, he could only shave a few tenths from his time and had to settle for second.

"That's a very good comeback for me," said Werner. "A big thank you to Audi. I used the peak (grip) from the Michelins and everything was okay. I was worried because we saw some GT cars cut the hairpin and bring dirt on, so I think the track conditions improved after a few laps."

Capello felt he might have gone faster had he not lost a flying lap when the Intersport Creation crashed at Turn 17 and caused an early red flag.

"It was okay, the car was good, I just got the red flag on the second flying lap," he said. "It's fine. Marco did a super lap and it would've been difficult to beat him. Congratulations to him.

"For sure we have a good car for the race and I'm looking forward to Saturday."

While there was little doubt that Audi would occupy the front row, the contest for LMP2 pole and third overall was significantly more competitive.

Penske Porsche's Sascha Maassen, Highcroft Acura's David Brabham and Dyson Porsche's Andy Wallace all took turns on provisional pole in the first half of the session, before Timo Bernhard moved six-tenths clear in the second Penske car, and then shaved another 0.4 seconds from his mark on his second flying lap.

"It's the first pole for the new '07 model and I'm very happy for the team," said Bernhard. "The competition is really high and I'm looking forward to the race - it will be a tough one."

Wallace and Brabham completed the top five, ahead of Bryan Herta's Andretti-Green Courage-Acura.

Maassen was deeply unhappy after slipping to eighth overall. His initial lap was disqualified because he had been running without headlights on, but the Belgian claimed he was not notified of the cancelled time and consequently abandoned other laps after making small errors.

"I backed off two or three times and didn't get another clear lap, but I backed off because in my mind I already had a 1:46.3 in my pocket, so it was disappointing to find they didn't count it," Maassen said.

The factory Corvettes outpaced the lone Modena Aston Martin in the extremely slim GT1 field, with Jan Magnussen beating teammate Oliver Gavin by 0.4 seconds.

Ferrari 430s continued to dominate GT2, with Jaime Melo putting the Risi car on class pole by 0.262 seconds from Tomas Enge's Petersen/White Lightning entry. Flying Lizard's Jorg Bergmeister was the fastest Porsche runner in third.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Cl   Driver              Make                  Time
 1.  P1   Marco Werner        Audi R10 TDI          1:44.974
 2.  P1   Rinaldo Capello     Audi R10 TDI          1:45.326
 3.  P2   Timo Bernhard       Porsche RS Spyder     1:46.046
 4.  P2   David Brabham       Acura ARX-01a         1:47.109
 5.  P2   Andy Wallace        Porsche RS Spyder     1:47.130
 6.  P2   Bryan Herta         Acura ARX-01a         1:47.423
 7.  P2   Chris Dyson         Porsche RS Spyder     1:48.175
 8.  P2   Adrian Fernandez    Acura Lola BO6        1:48.417
 9.  P2   Sascha Maassen      Porsche RS Spyder     1:50.185
10.  P2   Ben Devlin          Mazda Lola B07-40     1:50.713
11.  P1   Chris McMurry       Lola EX257 AER        1:53.125
12.  P2   Didier Theys        Judd Lola B05-40      1:53.594
13.  GT1  Jan Magnussen       Corvette C6-R         1:57.061
14.  GT1  Oliver Gavin        Corvette C6-R         1:57.480
15.  GT1  Antonio Garcia      Aston Martin DBR9     1:58.241
16.  GT2  Jaime Melo          Ferrari 430GT         2:02.439
17.  GT2  Tomas Enge          Ferrari 430GT         2:02.701
18.  GT2  Joerg Bergmeister   Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   2:03.043
19.  GT2  Wolf Henzler        Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   2:03.338
20.  GT2  Dominik Farnbacher  Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   2:03.652
21.  GT2  Colin Braun         Ferrari 430GT         2:03.811
22.  GT2  Bill Auberlen       Panoz Esperante       2:03.997
23.  GT2  Ralf Kelleners      Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   2:04.001
24.  GT2  Dirk Werner         Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   2:04.654
25.  GT2  Scott Maxwell       Panoz Esperante       2:04.686
26.  GT2  Peter Kox           Spyker C8             2:04.758
27.  GT2  Darren Law          Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   2:04.897
28.  GT2  Terry Borcheller    Porsche 911 GT3 RSR   2:06.811
29.  GT2  Rob Wilson          Ferrari F430GT        2:07.062
30.  GT2  Arie Luyendyk Jr    Panoz Esperante GTLM  2:11.529
31.  GT2  Philip Collin       Porsche 996 RSR       2:13.056
32.  GT2  Mauro Casadei       Porsche 996 RSR       2:15.693
33.  P1   Jon Field           Creation CA06H Judd    no time