Le Mans Qualifying Final Results: Toyota Just Misses Front Row

Well, you can not be too surprised with who took the pole in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but there were a lot of surprises lower down the order. After three sessions today and one last night, the running order for the 80th 24 Hours of Le Mans has been decided. This is the first time ever a hybrid car has been on the pole at Le Mans. 

André Lotterer in the R18 E-tron QuattroAudi R18 e-tron quattroGermany, 2012 > present8 photos
2 videos
has been fast in every qualifying session, and he set a 3:23.787 early in the final session that stayed for the rest of qualifying. What might be a surprise is that the other E-tron Quattro is not the second fastest car. Instead, Loic Duval in the R18 UltraAudi R18 ultraGermany, 2012 > present11 photos
2 videos
put in a 3:24.078, and Anthony Davidson did everything he could in the Toyota TS030Toyota TS030 HYBRIDJapan, 2012 > present5 photos
2 videos
to get into the front row, but he was not quite able to do it. The Toyota will start in third place, despite Davidson setting his fastest qualifying time on the very last lap of 3:24.842. The #2 Audi E-Tron Quattro driven by Allan McNish was fourth fastest with a 3:25.433, and the #8 Toyota was fifth fastest with a 3:25.488. The #4 Audi is in sixth with a 3:26.420. The fastest of the privateer LMP1 cars was the Strakka Racing HPD-ARX 03aHonda HPD ARX 03aJapan, 2012 > present2 photos
1 video
that managed a 3:29.622

In LMP2, the #25 ADR Delta Oreca 03 NissanOreca Oreca 03 NissanFrance, 2011 > present2 photos
was fastest in class 3:38.181. The #24 Oak Racing Oak Morgan-JuddOAK Racing Morgan JuddFrance, 2012 > present5 photos
1 video
was second fastest with a 3:38.598. Third fastest in class was the #26 Signatech Nissan Oreca 03-Nissan that did a 3:39.152. As you can see the LMP2 class is close this year with the top qualifers separated by about a second. 

The DeltawingNissan DeltaWingJapan, 2012 > present19 photos
3 videos
qualified 29th overall and 16th among the LMP2 cars with a 3:42.612 lap. 

In GTE-Pro the #59 Luxury Racing FerrariFerrari 458 Italia GTCItaly, 2011 > present5 photos
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was first with a 3:55.393 laps, and #97 Aston MartinAston Martin Vantage GTEUnited Kingdom, 2012 > present4 photos
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managed to take the second spot with a 3:55.870. Rounding out the top three in the class was the #74 CorvetteChevrolet Corvette C6.RUnited States of America, 2012 > present3 photos
with a 3:55.910 lap. Like the LMP2 class, the GT cars are tightly packed with the top three cars within a second of one another. 

The #79 Flying Lizard Motorsport PorschePorsche 911 GT3 RSRGermany, 2011 > present10 photos
continued to lead in GTE-Am with a 3:57.594. It actually was faster than four of the GTE-Pro cars. Behind it are the #99 Vantage from #99 Young Driver Aston Martin Racing that did a 3:58.725 and the #58 Luxury Racing Ferrari that did a 3:58.800. 

That is all for qualifying. The race is on Saturday at 3pm local time. You will be able to follow all of the action here on Autoviva.