Sarrazin surprised by qualifying pace

The Peugeot driver took his second consecutive pole at Le Mans, but this year's effort was eight seconds faster than his 2007 lap.

"Peugeot gave me the chance to do qualifying last year and I got the pole, so this time I knew I could do it again," he told autosport.com. "I was very happy in the car, I pushed very hard, and did a very fast lap.

"When I saw 3:18 on the dashboard I thought 'wow, that's fast' because last year I was doing 3:26s. It was a strange feeling to know the time was that quick.

"The car gave me a lot of confidence, I think the 908 is the best car I've ever driven in my career. Le Mans is the biggest race in the world and it's amazing to be on pole, I like this feeling."

Sarrazin added that the lap could have been even quicker, but for a backmarker in the Porsche Curves.

"Actually, before I crossed the line I was a little bit frustrated because I had some traffic at the end of the lap. But it was just a little bit, just about three tenths.

"I knew it would be a very good lap time because I pushed really hard and I didn't make any mistakes, so it was the maximum of my car I think, apart from the little bit of time at the Porsche Curves. But everybody has traffic at Le Mans, it's not possible to do a lap without any."