Nakajima grabs Le Mans pole for Toyota
Kazuki Nakajima has taken pole position with Toyota for the 24 hours of Le Mans, the third round of the World Endurance Championship. He also becomes the first Japanese to do so in the fabled endurance race.
The no. 7 TS040 Hybrid, steered by Nakajima, Sarrazin and Wurz will start at the front of the field on Saturday and joining it on the front row will be the no. 14 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The TS040 Hybrid clinched pole with a lap in 3:21.789, 6 tenths quicker than last year's pole position by Audi.
Porsche went on the attack after the Toyota time but the no. 14 driven by Dumas, Jani and Lieb was unable to beat the Japanese car’s time. Toyota-Porsche, Toyota-Porsche have locked out the first two rows of the grid for the 82nd race, while Audi, the previous year’s winner had to settle for the next three places.
In LM P2, pole went to the no. 46 Ligier. The French manufacturer celebrates its return to Le Mans after 29 years of absence with pole, thanks to a lap in 3:37.609 in the Ligier JS P2 driven by Badey, Gommendy and Thiriet. They proved faster than the no. 38 Zytek Z11SN - Nissan and another Ligier, OAK Racing no. 35.
In LM GTE Pro and Am, Ferrari scored a double with the nos 51 and 81 458 Italias.
See the full classification.
