By Tarek Ramchani
The third and final qualifying session has ended with no changes in the upper LMP1 class. Audi Sport Team Joest will start the 83rd edition from position four, five and six.
Overall pole position went to Porsche Team's #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb. Second place went to the #17 Porsche ahead of the #19 919 Hybrid in third.
The best ranked Audi R18 e-tron quattro is the #8 car of Oliver Jarvis, Loic Duval and Lucas di Grassi in fourth place overall. Their best lap time was set yesterday, a 3:19.866. They will start the French endurance classic behind the three works Porsche 919 Hybrid cars.
André Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and Marcel Fassler will start from fifth place on the grid. Behind the wheel of their #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, the three-time Le Mans winners set a best time of 3:20.561, in the second qualifying session.
Sixth fastest overall were Marco Bonanomi, René Rast and Filipe Albuquerque. The three drivers of the #9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro were fifth last night but were down to sixth place following #7 R18's improvement. Their best time was a 3:20.997.
Toyota Racing ended the qualifying sessions in seventh and eighth place, the #2 TS040 Hybrid ahead of the sister #1 car. The two privateer Rebellion Racing cars were ninth (#12 R-One AER) and tenth (#13 R-One AER). The Nissan Motorsports entries qualified in positions twelfth (23 GT-R LM NISMO), fourteenth (#22 GT-R LM NISMO) and ninteenth (#21 GT-R LM NISMO).
2015 Le Mans 24 Hours starting grid:
1 #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid
2 #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid
3 #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid
4 #8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro
5 #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro
6 #9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro
7 #2 Toyota Racing - Toyota TS040 Hybrid
8 #1 Toyota Racing - Toyota TS040 Hybrid
9 #12 Rebellion Racing - Rebellion R-One AER
10 #13 Rebellion Racing - Rebellion R-One AER
Photo credit: Audi Media
