Renger Van der Zande will start on pole for the 2018 Daytona 24 Hours after going quicker than Helio Castroneves on the final lap of qualifying, with Fernando Alonso qualifying 13th.

Castroneves went top of the standings with a 1m36.090s with five minutes still to go, but after he went into the pits early, Van der Zande was able to snatch pole position from him by just 0.007s on his final lap of qualifying.

The battle for the front two rows went back and forth between multiple prototype drivers throughout the session, with times continuously improving. With less than 50 seconds on the clock, second place changed hands four times with Filipe Albuquerque and Pato O’Ward all improving behind Castroneves.

However with Van de Zande – who also improved to go second on his penultimate lap – going fastest of all on his final attempt, it bumped Albuquerque and O’Ward to third and fourth respectively.

Throughout qualifying sessions for all classes there were not many incidents except for Nicolas Lapierre in the Nissan Onroak DPI car going into the barrier in the opening laps. The car had damaged suspension and bodywork and wasn’t able to make it back to the pits.

Tristan Vautier will start on the third row of the grid after setting a lap-time of 1m36.472s, just over 0.15s slower than O’Ward. Vautier is the third of three Cadillac DPI cars in the top five.

Robin Frijns will be beside him on the third row in sixth, with Felipe Nasr qualifying seventh. Fernando Alonso for United Autosport will start 13th, with the Spaniards best lap being a 1m37.008s.

Jan Magnussen secured pole position for the GTLM class after being consistently at the top of the standings throughout his qualifying session. Just 0.019s separated him and Joey Hand by the end of the session.

Positions were changing often between the GTLM drivers, although behind Magnussen and Hand on the grid will be Laurens Vanthoor and Patrick Pilet.

The GTD class saw Daniel Serra take pole in the Spirit of Race’s Ferrari 488. Risi Competizione’s Miguel Molina, also in a Ferrari, will start second.