Toyota takes pole for 24 Hours of LeMans

Pole winning No. 7 Toyota

World Championship leaders TOYOTA Racing and the #7 TS040 HYBRID took pole position for the 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Kazuki Nakajima, who shares the #7 with Alex Wurz and Stephane Sarrazin, became the first Japanese driver to earn the honor with a lap of 3mins 21.789secs, which also marked TOYOTA's second pole position at Le Mans.

Pole winners from left, Sarrazin, Nakajima and Wurz

A happy Kazuki Nakajima said, "Even though it is a 24-hour race it is a very good feeling to be on pole position. I am really happy with the car so many thanks to team; we have prepared a great car for the race. I was struggling with the traffic but I managed to get one lap and it was just enough to get the pole. It's going to be a tough race but tonight I am happy. We didn't have to compromise our program and we managed to put in the lap time for the right moment. Now I think we are well prepared for the race."

Romain Dumas was able to keep Porsche on the front row for its topline return to Le Mans by improving to a 3m22.146s, while Sebastien Buemi moved the second Toyota TS040 HYBRID from fifth to third, 0.7 seconds adrift of his team-mate.

The #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid, which held provisional pole after Wednesday's opening qualifying session, did not improve its time, leaving it fourth on the grid ahead of the three Audi R18 e-tron quattros.

The #8 car of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Buemi will start Saturday's race from third on the grid.

Despite a 25% reduction in fuel consumption, the efficient 1000PS TOYOTA HYBRID System – Racing powertrain helped TOYOTA Racing record a 0.557secs improvement on last year's pole position time of 3min 22.346secs.

With two wins from the opening two FIA World Endurance Championship races, the TS040 HYBRID is setting the standard for efficiency and performance in the new era of endurance racing and that was indicated again.

The starting grid at Le Mans is decided by the fastest single lap from each car for any of the three qualifying sessions.

Kazuki and Sebastien took the wheel for the start of final qualifying, which had been extended by 30 minutes due to several red flags in the opening two sessions. They immediately set better lap times than in either earlier session.

Fine-tuning continued with all drivers taking turns to evaluate tires and set-up before a final shoot-out for pole position, with Kazuki and Sebastien returning to the cockpit.

However, a late yellow flag zone denied a big crowd the spectacle but confirmed that TOYOTA Racing will start from first and third.

In LM P2, the best provisional time was set by the Ligier JS P2-Nissan n°46 with a time of 3’38’’094. In LM GTE Pro, the fastest time was set by the Corvette n°73 (3’55’’038) and in GTE Am, Ferrari 458 Italia n°61 set the best time with a lap in 3’56’’917.

In the second session Toyota confirmed its domination thanks to no. 7 in the hands of Nakajima, Sarrazin and Wurz. The TS 040 clinched pole with a lap in 3m 21.789sec. As a reminder, in 2013 the quickest Audi got round in 3m 22.349sec. Porsche went for broke but 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 make do with the next three places.

And what a comeback for Ligier! The prestigious French make put on a stunning performance 29 years after its last appearance at Le Mans. Thanks to a lap in 3m 37.609 sec, no. 46 driven by Badey, Gommendy and Thiriet set the fastest time in the category in front of the no. 38 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan and another Ligier , no. 35.

In LM GTE Pro there is a mouth-watering battle in perspective. The no. 51 Ferrari of Bruni, Vilander, and Fisichella was quickest, but the AF Corse car is under threat from the very promising no. 73 Corvette C7 in the hands of Garcia, Magnussen and Taylor and the no. 97 Aston Martin of Mücke, Senna and Turner. As a result of his accident James Calado has been forbidden to drive this weekend by the doctors. He will be replaced in the no. 71 Ferrari by Pierre Kaffer. LM GTE Am saw the same Prancing Horse domination thanks to no. 81 driven by Bird, Rugolo and Wyatt.

Today Friday 13th June the public can visit the track and the pits from 10h00 to 18h00. The section of the circuit leading up to the Dunlop Footbridge will be the theatre of a brilliant display of the 10 Porsches in the special exhibition organized this year by the ACO. At 17h 30 the Drivers’ Parade will take place in the Le Mans town centre.

The start of the 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours will be given on Saturday 14th June at 15h00
Alex Wurz: "I am mega happy; it is a really good result. Kazuki did really well and he did a banzai lap. It is not only that we are happy for pole position but also the work we did today was very good. I think it makes us all positive ahead of the race. It was really cool team work, every step we did with the set-up and the way we operated was very nicely executed. So I am very proud of our team."

Stephane Sarrazin: "It is amazing to be on pole again. It was a great job from the team and Kazuki did a brilliant lap. Yesterday we had a good car but today we had a very good car. The set-up was brilliant so big thanks to the team. It is promising for the race because we feel so confident in the car. We can push on every corner, every lap. Like that everything is positive. The race will be very long, we know that we have to be very calm and not attack it like a short sprint."

Kazuki Nakajima: "Even though it is a 24-hour race it is a very good feeling to be on pole position. I am really happy with the car so many thanks to team; we have prepared a great car for the race. I was struggling with the traffic but I managed to get one lap and it was just enough to get the pole. It's going to be a tough race but tonight I am happy. We didn't have to compromise our program and we managed to put in the lap time for the right moment. Now I think we are well prepared for the race."

Results (Combined from two sessions)