Le Mans 2017: Thursday
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Autosport
Phew - qualifying done and dusted. A frantic six hours over the past day comes to a close and it's Toyota that will start Sunday's Le Mans 24 Hours from pole, thanks to a stellar lap from Kamui Kobayashi - a qualifying record.
The #8 Toyota improved late on to join its sister #7 car on the front row, but Porsche is lurking with its cars third and fourth. Alex Lynn's effort secured G-Drive pole in LMP2, while Aston headed a fierce battle in GTE Pro - one that'll be intriguing to follow this weekend.Here's our comprehensive qualifying recap report.
That's where we're going to leave things for this evening, but stay with Autosport.com from now until Sunday's end for the latest news and join us again in Race Centre Live on Saturday for full coverage of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The #8 Toyota improved late on to join its sister #7 car on the front row, but Porsche is lurking with its cars third and fourth. Alex Lynn's effort secured G-Drive pole in LMP2, while Aston headed a fierce battle in GTE Pro - one that'll be intriguing to follow this weekend.Here's our comprehensive qualifying recap report.
That's where we're going to leave things for this evening, but stay with Autosport.com from now until Sunday's end for the latest news and join us again in Race Centre Live on Saturday for full coverage of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
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LMP2
LMP2 ORDER#26 G-Drive/TDS ORECA (Lynn)#25 Manor ORECA (Petrov)#38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA (Tung)#31 Rebellion ORECA (Senna)#13 Rebellion ORECA (Beche)#24 Manor ORECA (Vergne)#28 TDS ORECA (Vaxiviere)#35 Signatech ORECA (Panciatici)#37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA (Brundle)#27 SMP Dallara (Aleshin)#36 Signatech ORECA (Menezes)#39 Graff ORECA (Guibbert)
LMP1
Kobayashi's pole time of 3m14.791s in the #7 Toyota is a new qualifying record for the current configuration of the circuit and is a massive 2.3s faster than the best team-mate Nakajima in the #8 car could manage. Next up are the two Porsches (Jani in #1 ahead of Bernhard in #2) before the third Toyota rounds out the top five thanks to Lapierre.
LMP1
So that's it then, after almost six hours of qualifying, Toyota has claimed pole for Saturday's Le Mans 24 Hours. And it certainly did it in style.
Here's Moore in the gravel before he managed to dig himself out.
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Just a few more cars yet to take the chequered flag and it doesn't look like there will be any significant improvements.
LMP2
So pole position in LMP2 goes to Alex Lynn in the #26 G-Drive/TDS ORECA
LMP1
Celebrations are already well under way down in the Toyota garage as the team marvels in that stunning lap from Kobayashi earlier today.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out and qualifying for the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours is over.
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Green flag
Moore has dug himself out of the gravel and is continuing - giving the car an aggressive wiggle as he cuts across a bit of off-track asphalt to get rid of the gravel he has picked up
GTE PRO
The yellow flag for the Tockwith might have scuppered Calado's hopes of improving.
Crash
Moore has gone off in the #34 Tockwith Ligier. He's in the gravel
GTE PRO
Calado made a brief pit visit, then set off again. Estre also out there in the #92 Porsche.
LMP2
Moore improves in the #34 Tockwith Ligier with a 3m32.536s. That's down in 21st.
LMP1
While there are plenty of changes still happening in LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am, it looks like the LMP1 order is settled with six minutes to go...
GTE PRO
Bird now with a 3m51.086s in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari. Fourth quickest - not quite enough to displace Stanaway, just 0.048s off.
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Just eight minutes remaining - but there's still some improvements flying around.
LMP2
Menezes also improves in the #36 Signatech ORECA, but that's only good enough for 11th.
LMP2
There's a car in the top 10 that isn't an ORECA! Aleshin puts the #27 SMP Dallara into 10th place.
GTE PRO
Calado now throws his hat into the ring with a 3m51.028s in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari - he splits the Astons, going second.
LMP1
Kobayashi has just got out of the #7 Toyota to a round of applause from his mechanics. Clearly Toyota is not expecting any improvements in the final few minutes of qualifying.
GTE PRO
Mucke improves the #66 Ford GT to 3m51.991s, sixth in class. Briscoe is still the quickest of the Ford after his earlier 3m51.232s in the #69 car.
Outer extremeties of track limits are being tested in the final few minutes here.
LMP2
Tung puts the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA back ahead of the #31 Rebellion with a 3m25.911s.
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GTE AM
Rees is back out in the #50 Larbre Corvette for another attempt - he's determined to keep that car on class pole.
LMP2
Panciatici in the #35 Signatech Alpine and Brundle in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA both improve. They are eighth and ninth respectively.
LMP2
Senna puts the #31 Rebellion ORECA third with a 3m26.736s.
LMP1
An interesting point is that out of the three types of car in LMP1 car it is only the ByKolles CLM that has not stopped or dramatically slowed out on track at all during practice or qualifying. Yes, it did spend a fair while in the pits earlier, but that is pretty impressive for a car that has a notorious reputation for being just a little bit unreliable...
GTE PRO
Stanaway came back to the pits after his flyer, but Turner stayed out and is now top of the Astons with a 3m50.837s - two tenths faster. The #97 and #95 are now one-two in class.
GTE PRO
Ford GTs now look to be revving up for an assault on pole position - they're out on pitlane.
LMP2
Aleshin improves the #27 SMP Dallara's time to 3m29.659s - that betters the one Sirotkin posted earlier. It's in 15th.
LMP1
One car that could improve still is the ByKolles. It has just returned to the track with Kraihamer at the wheel and is around 5.5 seconds slower than the fifth-placed #9 Toyota. Can it close that gap in the remaining moments? It could, but won't gain a huge amount by doing so as Webb's times earlier have seen off the LMP2 threat.
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LMP2
Albuquerque improves again to a 3m29.151s in the #32 United Autosports Ligier. That makes that car the lead non-ORECA in 14th.
LMP1
The LMP1 cars are currently lapping around five seconds slower than their best times at the moment, with it looking unlikely that there will be any further changes in the remaining 20 minutes. Then again, stranger things have happened...
By: Matt Beer
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