Toyota took pole position for the Six Hours of Silverstone in a tight session at the head of the field, as the #7 defeated the Le Mans 24 Hours winning #8 car.
Mike Conway parked the #7 Toyota at the head of the times early on, posting a 1m 36.769s to pip Fernando Alonso by just 0.020s.
The #7’s advantage subsequently grew to over four-tenths following a poor lap from Kazuki Nakajima in the #8. Jose Maria Lopez was eight tenths faster than Nakajima.
The two TS050’s were over two-seconds clear of the non-hybrid LMP1 cars, as the Toyota stranglehold over the privateers continues.
A brief red flag, caused by the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara of Frits van Eerd getting beached in the gravel trap at the exit of the final turn, paused the session with just over five minutes remaining.
The Toyota’s decided against going out for one final run at the end of the session, thus guaranteeing pole for the #7.
Jenson Button managed to sneak the #11 SMP BR1 into third place, just over a tenth clear of the sister #17 machine that had held the position for most of the session, after the red flag was rescinded.
The Rebellion pair followed in fifth and sixth, the #3 ahead of the #1, while the Dragonspeed BR1 of Ben Hanley stole away seventh from the #4 ByKolles CLM in the dying moments of the session.
Jackie Chan DC Racing dominated qualifying for LMP2, as the #37 led the #38 at the head of the times.
While only a tenth separated the pair, the third placed #36 Signitech Alpine could only manage an average 1.3 seconds slower.
The #67 Ford of Stefan Mucke and Olivier Pla took pole honours in GTE Pro, just ahead of the massively improved Prodrive-run Aston Martin Vantages in second and third.
Stefan Mucke led the way in the #66 Ford after the first runs, just over two-tenths clear of the #97 Aston of Alex Lynn.
Olivier Pla cemented the #66 Ford’s place at the top of the times following his own run, although Lynn and team-mate Maxime Martin managed to cut the lead advantage to just 0.078s.
This secured by far the best qualifying result for the new Vantage in second, while the #95 confirmed the improved Aston pace by setting the third quickest time.
Harry Tincknell could only manage fourth for the #67 Ford after team-mate Andy Priaulx initially set just the fifth fastest time, although they ultimately jumped ahead of the #92 Porsche that will start fifth on the grid.
It was a muted qualifying session for the pair of MTEK BMW M8’s, the #82 of Antonio Felix da Costa/Augusto Farfus leading the sister #81 of Martin Tomczyk/Nicky Catsburg in seventh and eighth respectively.
The #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche sat on provisional pole in GTE-Am following the first runs ahead of its sister #88 machine, while the #90 TF Sport Aston lay third.
Jorg Bergmeister then set a blistering lap on his own effort, which was enough to secure the Team Project 1 Porsche pole position.
The #77 held on to the second fastest time, while the #90 TF Sport and #98 Aston Martin Racing machines relegated the #88 Proton car down to fifth.
