Toyota's Kazuki Nakajima earns pole for 24 Hours of Le Mans
Toyota prevailed over all when the checkered flag flew on qualifying Thursday.
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
For the first time since 1999, a Toyota will lead the field to the green flag for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Kazuki Nakajima also makes history as the first Japanese racer to ever earn pole position for Le Mans with a time of three minutes and 21.789 seconds.
The No. 14 Porsche placed second, the No. 8 Toyota third, and the No. 20 Porsche fourth. Audi will start behind all of their main rivals, placing fifth (No. 2), sixth (No. 3), and seventh (No. 1) on the grid.
LMP2
Tristan Gommendy in the Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan earned pole honors in the LMP2 category. He was able to outpace the No. 38 JOTA Sport Zytek-Nissan in second and the No. 35 Oak Racing Ligier-Nissan in third.
GTE Pro
In GTE Pro, Gianmaria Bruni put the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari on top, ahead of the No. 73 Corvette and No. 97 Aston Martin.
GTE Am
Another AF Corse Ferrari snagged pole position in GTE Am with Sam Bird in the No. 81 entry. He was followed by a fleet of Aston Martins in second (No. 98), third (No. 95), and fourth (No. 61).
Session Notes
As teams readied themselves for one last bid at pole in the final 15 minutes, a crash tarnished all plans and left us with an anticlimactic ending. The accident involved Karun Chandhok in the No. 48 Murphy Oreca-Nissan. The section in and around Indianapolis was placed under a local yellow, which obviously put an end to anyones hopes of improving their time.
It's interesting to note that all four class poles were faster than last year's race.
Bret Curtis will not be allowed to race after crashing the No. 79 ProSpeed Porsche, with Sebastien Crubilé being selected as his replacement. Only problem with that is the fact that the ACO will not approve him. That makes them the first two-driver roster since 2009 and as a result, they must switch from GTE Am to GTE Pro.
The Nissan ZEOD qualified 26th, beating the leading GTE car by 3.5 seconds, but falling approximately 6.7 seconds short of the last-place LMP2 prototype.
The ACO has revealed that a number of cars are under investigation for speeding in 'slow zones.'
To see recaps of the other two qualifying sessions, click HERE FOR Q1 and HERE FOR Q2
COMPLETE QUALIFYING RESULTS
1.) LMP1 #7 Toyota Racing Toyota TS 040 Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima
2.) LMP1 #14 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Dumas/Jani/Lieb
3.) LMP1 #8 Toyota Racing Toyota TS 040 Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi
4.) LMP1 #3 Audi Sport Audi R18 Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Jarvis
5.) LMP1 #20 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Bernhard/Webber/Hartley
6.) LMP1 #2 Audi Sport Audi R18 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer
7.) LMP1 #1 Audi Sport Audi R18 Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen
8.) LMP1 #12 Rebellion Racing R-One Prost/Heidfeld/Beche
9.) LMP1 #13 Rebellion Racing R-One Kraihamer/Belicchi/Leimer
10.) LMP2 #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier-Nissan Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy
11.) LMP2 #38 JOTA Sport Zytek-Nissan Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey
12.) LMP2 #35 Oak Racing Ligier-Nissan Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy
13.) LMP2 #26 G-Drive Racing Morgan-Nissan Rusinov/Pla/Canal
14.) LMP2 #36 Signatech Alpine-Nissan Chatin/Panciatici/Webb
15.) LMP2 #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan Howson/Bradley/Imperatori
16.) LMP2 #48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissan Berthon/Gonzalez/Chandhok
17.) LMP2 #42 Caterham Zytek-Nissan Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson
18.) LMP2 #34 Race Performance Oreca-Judd Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster
19.) LMP2 #43 Newblood by Morand Racing Morgan-Nissan Klien/Hirsch/Brandela
20.) LMP2 #37 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan Ladygin/Minassian/Mediani
21.) LMP2 #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin
22.) LMP2 #33 Oak Racing Ligier-HPD Cheng/Tung/Fong
23.) LMP2 #50 Larbre Competition Morgan-Judd Ragues/Taylor/Ihara
24.) LMP2 #24 Sebastien Loeb Racing Oreca-Nissan Rast/Charouz/Capillaire
25.) LMP2 #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan Munemman/Latif/Winslow
26.) CDNT #0 Nissan Motorsports Nissan ZEOD Ordonez/Reip/Motoyama
27.) GTEP #51 AF Corse Ferrari Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella
28.) GTEA #81 AF Corse Ferrari Wyatt/Rugolo/Bird
29.) GTEP #73 Corvette Racing Corvette Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor
30.) GTEP #97 AMR Aston Martin Turner/Mucke/Senna
31.) GTEP #74 Corvette Racing Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook
32.) GTEP #52 Ram Racing Ferrari Griffin/Parente/Leo
33.) GTEA #98 AMR Aston Martin Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard
34.) GTEP #92 Team Manthey Porsche Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz
35.) GTEP #91 Team Manthey Porsche Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy
36.) GTEA #95 AMR Aston Martin Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim
37.) GTEA #61 AF Corse Ferrari Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi
38.) GTEA #72 SMP Racing Ferrari Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov
39.) GTEA #88 Proton Competition Porsche Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi
40.) GTEA #90 8Star Motorsports Ferrari Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti
41.) GTEA #77 Dempsey Racing Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long
42.) GTEA #60 AF Corse Ferrari Mann/Case/Giammaria
43.) GTEA #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly
44.) GTEA #53 Ram Racing Ferrari Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton
45.) GTEA #76 IMSA Performance Porsche Narac/Armindo/Hallyday
46.) GTEA #57 Krohn Racing Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Collins
47.) GTEA #67 IMSA Performance Porsche Maris/Merlin/Helary
48.) GTEA #58 Team Sofrev ASP Ferrari Barthez/Pons/Ayari
49.) GTEA #70 Team Taison Ferrari Nakano/Ehret/Rich
50.) GTEA #75 ProSpeed Competition Porsche Perrodo/Collard/Palttala
51.) GTEA #62 AF Corse Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank
52.) LMP2 #29 Pegasus Racing Morgan-Nissan Schell/Leutwiller/Roussel
53.) GTEP #71 AF Corse Ferrari Rigon/Kaffer/Beretta
54.) GTEP #79 ProSpeed Competition Porsche MacNeil/Bleekemolen
Withdrew after crash
GTEP #99 Craft-Bamboo Aston Martin
Drivers who will have to sit out the race
Loic Duval - LMP1 #1 Audi Sport Audi R18
James Calado - GTEP #71 AF Corse Ferrari
Bret Curtis - GTEA #79 ProSpeed Competition Porsche
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