Porsche drivers Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley took pole position for this weekend’s Fuji round of the World Endurance Championship.
Bamber trailed team-mate Nick Tandy after the first runs during the wet qualifying session by less than two tenths of a second.
Newly-confirmed Toro Rosso Formula 1 stand-in Hartley went quicker than Andre Lotterer to jump ahead of the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid, before the German improved his time to claim back the top spot.
Hartley, who leads the WEC standings with Bamber and Timo Bernhard, responded to propel the #2 car back to the top of the timesheets.
Bamber and Hartley ended up with a two-lap average of 1m35.160s, which put them just 0.071s up on Tandy and Lotterer’s 1m35.231s.
Toyota was less than two tenths of a second behind with the #8 TS050 HYBRID qualified by Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi.
Nakajima had trailed Tandy’s session best of 1m35.068s by almost exactly two tenths and then Buemi whittled his time down to a 1m34.441s to run the Porsches close.
Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi were over a second back on their team-mates in fourth position in the #7 Toyota.
Hartley said: “That was seriously close between the two Porsches, and Buemi at the end there was on fast lap.
“The Toyota look strong on the long runs, so we are expecting a close race tomorrow.”
Nelson Piquet Jr and David Heinemeier Hansson led an LMP2 one-two for the Rebellion team.
Piquet Jr headed team-mate Bruno Senna by three tenths after the first runs and then Heinemeier Hansson had more than a second in hand over Julien Canal in the sister ORECA-Gibson 07.
That gave the #13 car a two-lap average of 1m44.196s, seven tenths clear of their team-mates.
Ho-Ping Tung and Thomas Laurent were less than a tenth back in third aboard the lead Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA
Porsche took the pole in GTE Pro, Richard Lietz and Frederic Makowiecki taking the top spot with a 1m47.533s average.
That put them four tenths up on the Ganassi Ford GT driven by Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell.
The Clearwater Ferrari team took its first GTE Am pole with Matt Griffin and Weng Sun Mok.
Qualifying result
| POS | CLASS | DRIVER | TEAM | CAR | GAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m35.160s |
| 2 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 0.071s |
| 3 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 0.195s |
| 4 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1.470s |
| 5 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 9.036s |
| 6 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 9.765s |
| 7 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 9.918s |
| 8 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 10.767s |
| 9 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 10.949s |
| 10 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, J.Rossiter | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 11.045s |
| 11 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 12.194s |
| 12 | LMP2 | M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 12.251s |
| 13 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 12.417s |
| 14 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 12.829s |
| 15 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 12.858s |
| 16 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 12.979s |
| 17 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 13.035s |
| 18 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 13.105s |
| 19 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 13.418s |
| 20 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 13.542s |
| 21 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 13.965s |
| 22 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 14.248s |
| 23 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 14.574s |
| 24 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 14.624s |
| 25 | GTE Am | M.Hedlund, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 14.706s |
| 26 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 15.637s |
