Andre Lotterer makes Le Mans history as first hybrid claims pole

The German's #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro set a blistering 3m23.787s lap early in the final qualifying session, ensuring the 2011 event winning crew of Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer will pick up where it left off a year ago.

Toyota's challenge for pole on its return to frontline endurance competition fizzled out at the flag, with Anthony Davidson setting a nevertheless impressive third fastest time overall.

Lotterer set his time early in the final two-hour session as dusk fell, bumping the #3 R18 ultra of Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Marc Gene to second. The hybrid machine was never headed again.

"It was not a perfect lap," said Lotterer afterwards. "I did not get all the perfect sectors together, but I think we can still be happy."

The expected final dash for pole came when Davidson brought the #8 Toyota TS030 into the pits with 15 minutes to go and bolted on a fresh set of slicks. The time that resulted from that - a 3m24.842s - was good enough to put the brand new car third on the grid, behind the #3 Audi, whose best time had been set by Dumas during in Thursday's first session.

Davidson did attempt a second lap, but came upon Tom Kristensen in the #2 R18 e-tron on an out-lap as the cars headed back through the chicanes towards the pits. The Englishman's lap was unlikely to have got him pole even before the delay however.

Kristensen had taken over from Allan McNish for a couple of laps at the end of the session but it was near the start of it that he set the time that secured the #2 car fourth on the grid.

Kazuki Nakajima set a late flyer in the #7 Toyota, pushing the #4 Audi driven by Le Mans rookies Marco Bonanomi and Oliver Jarvis (joined by former winner Mike Rockenfeller) back to sixth.

Danny Watts's time before the break was enough to give Strakka Racing seventh on the grid - and best of the non-hybrid petrol cars as he broke the 3m30s barrier with the HPD - ahead the two Rebellion Lolas.

"I really enjoyed my fastest lap," said Watts. "I was thoroughly in the zone, focused and concentrated. It was one of those balls-on-the-line laps which came off."

The Pescarolo Dome completed the top 10, but also ended its evening in the barriers at the exit of the Porsche Curves having made contact with a Zytek, and that incident briefly brought out the red flag.

John Martin gave ADR-Delta pole in the LMP2 battle as he moved ahead of Olivier Pla's Morgan-Judd, which had a spin early in the session. The #26 Signatech Nissan will start third. The Brundles' Greaves Zytek will start the race 11th in class and 24th overall.

Frederic Makowiecki took his second pole position in as many weeks as he set the pace for Luxury Racing Ferrari in GTE Pro (the Frenchman was also fastest in the FIA GT1 event for Hexis McLaren at the Slovakia Ring last weekend).

The factory Aston Martin was an impressive second in class thanks to Darren Turner's efforts before the break while Oliver Gavin's time from yesterday was good enough to secure third position in class for Corvette.

AF Corse performed miracles with the #51 Ferrari F458, which had been effectively written off and required a new chassis after Giancarlo Fisichella's shunt at the Porsche Curves on Wednesday, to get it back on track with 30 minutes to go. That allowed Toni Vilander to qualify the car 49th overall and last of the GTE Pro runners.

The #79 Flying Lizard Porsche driven by Patrick Pilet, Seth Neiman and Spencer Pumpelly took pole position in the GTE Am class.

Pos  Cl     Drivers                             Team/Car                     Time
 1.  P1     Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer           Audi e-tron                  3m23.787s
 2.  P1     Dumas/Duval/Gene                    Audi Ultra                   3m24.078s
 3.  P1     Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin             Toyota                       3m24.842s
 4.  P1     Capello/Kristensen/McNish           Audi e-tron                  3m25.433s
 5.  P1     Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima              Toyota                       3m25.488s
 6.  P1     Bonanomi/Jarvis/Rockenfeller        Audi Ultra                   3m26.420s
 7.  P1     Leventis/Watts/Kane                 Strakka HPD                  3m29.622s
 8.  P1     Prost/Jani/Heidfeld                 Rebellion Lola-Toyota        3m29.837s
 9.  P1     Belicchi/Primat/Bleekemolen         Rebellion Lola-Toyota        3m31.866s
10.  P1     Ara/Minassian/Bourdais              Pescarolo Dome-Judd          3m33.066s
11.  P1     Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck           JRM HPD                      3m35.421s
12.  P1     Montagny/Baguette/Kraihamer         OAK Pescarolo-Judd           3m35.584s
13.  P1     Collard/Boullion/Hall               Pescarolo-Judd               3m37.485s
14.  P2     Martin/Charouz/Graves               ADR ORECA-Nissan             3m38.181s
15.  P2     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla                  OAK Morgan-Judd              3m38.598s
16.  P2     Panciatici/Ragues/Rusinov           Signatech ORECA-Nissan       3m39.152s
17.  P2     Beche/Thiriet/Tinseau               TDS ORECA-Nissan             3m39.252s
18.  P2     Perez-Companc/Ayari/Kaffer          Pecom ORECA-Nissan           3m39.711s
19.  P2     Firth/Hughes/Hartley                Murphy ORECA-Nissan          3m39.877s
20.  P2     Heinemeier Hansson/Leinders/Martin  OAK Morgan-Nissan            3m39.899s
21.  P2     Sims/Buurman/Iannetta               Status Lola-Judd             3m40.280s
22.  P2     Potolicchio/Dalziel/Kimber-Smith    Starworks HPD-Honda          3m40.471s
23.  P2     Briere/Petersen/Nakano              Boutsen ORECA-Nissan         3m40.727s
24.  P2     Ordonez/Brundle/Brundle             Greaves Zytek-Nissan         3m40.738s
25.  P2     Dolan/Hancock/Kurosawa              Jota Zytek-Nissan            3m41.287s
26.  P2     Mailleux/Lombard/Tresson            Signatech ORECA-Nissan       3m41.982s
27.  P2     Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz                 Level 5 HPD-Honda            3m42.224s
28.  P2     Zugel/Gonzalez/Julian               Greaves Zytek-Nissan         3m42.292s
29.  CDNT   Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama           Highcroft Delta Wing Nissan  3m42.612s
30.  P2     Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry               Race Performance ORECA-Judd  3m43.619s
31.  P2     Holzer/Schultis/Moro                Kodewa Lola-Lotus            3m45.664s
32.  P2     Giroix/Johansson/Badey              Gulf Lola-Nissan             3m47.244s
33.  P2     Haezebrouck/Thirion/Rosier          Extreme Limite Norma-Judd    3m48.025s
34.  GTE P  Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher          Luxury Ferrari               3m55.393s
35.  GTE P  Fernandez/Mucke/Turner              Aston Martin                 3m55.870s
36.  GTE P  Gavin/Milner/Westbrook              Corvette                     3m55.910s
37.  GTE P  Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci             AF Corse Ferrari             3m56.484s
38.  GTE P  Taylor/Garcia/Magnussen             Corvette                     3m57.181s
39.  GTE A  Neiman/Pilet/Pumpelly               Flying Lizard Porsche        3m57.594s
40.  GTE P  Lieb/Lietz/Henzler                  Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    3m57.606s
41.  GTE P  Alfaisal/Curtis/Edwards             IMSA Porsche                 3m58.035s
42.  GTE P  Bergmeister/Long/Holzer             Flying Lizard Porsche        3m58.717s
43.  GTE A  Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen            Aston Martin                 3m58.725s
44.  GTE A  Ehret/Montecalvo/Jeannette          Luxury Ferrari               3m58.800s
45.  P2     Rostan/Ihara/Deletraz               Gulf Lola-Nissan             3m58.895s
46.  GTE A  Ried/Roda/Ruberti                   Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    3m59.181s
47.  GTE A  Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy               Larbre Corvette              3m59.192s
48.  GTE P  Walker/Cocker/Wills                 JMW Ferrari                  3m59.638s
49.  GTE P  Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander           AF Corse Ferrari             4m00.025s
50.  GTE A  Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin             AF Corse Ferrari             4m00.288s
51.  GTE A  Armindo/Narac/Pons                  IMSA Porsche                 4m00.332s
52.  GTE A  Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers              AF-Waltrip Ferrari           4m00.691s
53.  GTE A  Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo                Krohn Ferrari                4m02.323s
54.  GTE A  Rodrigues/Ferte/Illiano             JMB Ferrari                  4m02.461s
55.  GTE A  Bourret/Gibon/Belloc                Larbre Corvette              4m02.969s
56.  GTE A  Camathias/Daniels/Palttala          JWA Porsche                  4m03.661s