Was this the most remarkable Le Mans qualifying lap?

OPINION: This weekend Le Mans celebrates its Centenary edition, and celebrations of famed feats and machines of years gone by are planned. By dint of when it happened, Tomas Enge’s 2004 GTS class pole is unlikely to feature prominently, but it deserves recognition as one of the more dramatic in the event’s long history

In the grand scheme of things, qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours has practically no bearing on the race outcome. Sure, a good performance is a morale-booster for the team and means a cleaner run for the opening stint compared to being mired in a pack, but things have a way of evening themselves out over 24 hours as reliability, freak occurrences and driver fatigue play a role.

That being said, qualifying has thrown up plenty of memorable moments from Le Mans’ one lap kings. Kamui Kobayashi’s record-breaking 3m14.791s lap in 2017 is unlikely to be beaten for a very long time, coming at the peak of the LMP1 era before performance equalisation became de-rigeur in the top class now contested by the slower, heavier Hypercars. The Japanese has claimed a further three poles since then, but his record pales in comparison with that of Tomas Enge.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.