Capello: traffic-free lap behind pole

Capello secured the fastest lap early in the final two-hour session to take his third career pole position for the 24-hour race. The Italian took pole in 2001 and '02 for Audi in the R10's predecessor, the R8.

The lap was more than one and a half seconds quicker than the diesel-powered car ran in official practice at the circuit earlier this month.

"I had a clear lap and in Le Mans, when you get a clear lap, the lap times come," Capello told autosport.com.

"I was pushing very hard because I know we cannot use the special qualifying tyres because our car is too hard on the rear tyres.

"We just tried to use the very soft race tyre, which on our car behaves like a qualifying tyre.

"You can go very quick on the out-lap, and on my flying lap I was alone, and that's when I could do the lap."

Capello said he was also pleased to see his qualifying record from 2002, of 3:29.905, preserved - albeit having set the record on a slightly different track layout.

"If somebody has beaten us in the last half hour we might have tried again," he added. "I'm quite happy, because my record from 2002 stands, and I hoped that nobody can beat it this year.

"After the pre-test, we knew that our pace could be a 3:30. We only did a 3:32 in the pre-test.

"And the track is not as fast as [it was] in the pre-test session. It was just that I was alone on the track."