Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa put their Toyota on pole for the Le Mans 24 Hour Race on Thursday as the Japanese manufacturer claimed a front-row lockout.
Former F1 driver Hartley secured his team’s edge with a best time of 3 min 24.408 sec. It was a sixth consecutive pole in the classic endurance event for Toyota.
The second Toyota hybrid, with 2021 pole-sitter Kamui Kobayashi behind the wheel, clocked 3 min 24.828 sec.
Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez share the driving duties with ex-F1 driver Kobayashi.
“It’s great, the car is extraordinary,” said Hartley whose car was second to their teammates in the 2021 race.
“We were under pressure on the last lap. Now, we will focus on the weekend.”
The Alpine of Andre Negrao, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Nicolas Lapierre pushed the leaders hard, finishing third on 3 min 24.850 sec.
“We know they are faster than us, the important thing is not to be too far away so as not to let them have a quiet race like last year,” said Lapierre.
The Alpine was third in the 2021 edition of the event.
Despite Toyota’s anticipated dominance, the pole time was slower than 2021 when Kobayashi clocked 3 min 23.900 sec.
Leading times
Front row
Sebastien Buemi – Ryo Hirakawa – Brendon Hartley (SUI-JPN-NZL/Toyota N.8/Hypercar/hybrid) 3:24.408
Mike Conway – Kamui Kobayashi – José Maria Lopez (GBR-JPN-ARG/Toyota N.7/Hypercar/hybrid) 3:24.828
2nd row
Andre Negrao – Matthieu Vaxiviere – Nicolas Lapierre (BRA-FRA-FRA/Alpine/Hypercar) 3:24.850
Ryan Briscoe – Richard Westbrook – Franck Mailleux (AUS-GBR-FRA/Glickenhaus N.709/Hypercar) 3:25.841
3rd row
Olivier Pla – Romain Dumas – Felipe Derani (FRA-FRA-BRA/Glickenhaus N.708/Hypercar) 3:26.359
Sean Gelael – Robin Frijns – René Rast (INA-NED-GER/WRT N.31/LMP2) 3:28.394
4th row
Rui Andrade – Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen – Norman Nato (POR-AUT-FRA/Realteam By WRT N.41/LMP2) 3:29.697
Filipe Albuquerque – Philip Hanson – Will Owen (ESP-GBR-USA/Oreca-Gibson/LMP2) 3:30.070
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