JAPANESE DUEL DECIDES POLE

Toyota was always going to get pole position. And always going to monopolise the front row of the grid with its pair of TS050 HYBRIDS. But it still put some effort into qualifying.

Kazuki Nakajima’s time on the way to setting another Le Mans pole to go with the one he claimed back in 2014 proved that Toyota was trying. He got down to a 3m15.377s, which wasn’t so far off Kamui Kobayashi’s record-breaking 3m14.791s from 2017.

It was a good effort, because Kobayashi’s lap, remember, was set in freakishly perfect conditions. There was a tail wind on the Mulsanne Straight, a headwind in the Porsche Curves and a track surface nicely rubbered in by the Michelins on the cars competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup support race. Nakajima had none of those advantages.

Both Toyota’s Japanese drivers were given a qualifying shot at the start of the opening session on Wednesday, which followed four hours of free practice, courtesy of the threat of rain on Thursday. Nakajima posted a 3m17.270s, while Kobayashi was just a tenth behind on 3m17.377s

They went again in third qualifying on Thursday in the knowledge that the conditions were significantly better. It was cooler and there was now more rubber laid down on the asphalt. Nakajima found almost two seconds, but Kobayashi went two tenths slower than before despite setting a fastest middle sector.

“It was more or less at the maximum with no traffic, so I can’t complain,” said Nakajima. “The track conditions were much better than yesterday and the lap was more or less as we expected. I was pushing hard to try to beat Kamui’s record, so maybe I could have done better in places.”