Qualifying for the sixth round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship saw Porsche Team prevail in the LMP1 class, topping the pair of Audi R18 e-tron quattros to claim the front row of the grid for this weekend's six-hour event at Fuji Speedway.
LMP1
The pair of 919 Hybrids have swept the front row for this weekend's Six Hours of Fuji, holding off the two R18 e-tron quattros of Audi Sport Team Joest to start from the front.
Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard's qualifying efforts combined for a two-lap average of 1:22.783, putting their No. 17 Porsche on the pole.
The sister No. 18 919 Hybrid followed up in second after Marc Lieb laid down a 1:23.127 in his final lap of the 20-minute session to put the second Porsche, which he drove with Romain Dumas for qualifying, second on the grid for this weekend's six-hour event at Fuji Speedway.
In that final lap, Lieb shoved the No. 7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer down to the third spot on the grid after the car managed its best qualifying effort of the season thus far. Lotterer and Treluyer, drivers of the No. 7 Audi which remains in the lead of the points, set an average of 1:23.082 - just three-tenths slower than the No. 17 Porsche that will start from pole.
After undergoing a gearbox change in Free Practice 3, the No. 8 Audi claimed fourth position in the qualifying session and will start ahead of the pair of Toyota TS040 Hybrids of local favorites Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The No. 1 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima completed the top-five in qualifying behind the pair of Audis, with the No. 2 just behind.
Alexandre Imperatori and Daniel Abt put the No. 13 Rebellion R-One AER of Rebellion Racing seventh on the grid as the top non-hybrid LMP1 entry, followed by the team's No. 12 car. Both were about six seconds off the pace of the pole-sitting Porsche.
LMP2
Taking its third pole position of the year in the secondary prototype category was the No. 26 Nissan-powered Ligier JS P2, driven by Sam Bird and Julien Canal for qualifying, earning G-Drive Racing its fourth pole of the year as its cars swept the front two spots of the grid.
A 1:31.529 average between Bird and Canal topped the team's other entry, the No. 28, by two-tenths.
Team SARD-Morand put its No. 43 entry third on the grid for its best qualifying result of the season, topping the No. 47 Oreca 05 Nissan of championship-leading KCMG which made contact with the wall while Nick Tandy was at the wheel before being able to set a time good enough for fourth in-class later in the session.
GTE-Pro
The front row of the GTE-Pro category was swept by AF Corse, as James Calado and Davide Rigon earned the class pole in the team's No. 71 Ferrari F458 Italia, followed by the No. 51 Ferrari of defending class champions Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander.
Calado and Rigon, contenders in the championship this year, earned their first ever pole position start in the FIA WEC, and will seek their first win of the year in tomorrow's six hour race.
Starting third in the GTE-Pro class will be the No. 99 Aston Martin Vantage V8, driven by Alex MacDowall and Fernando Rees in qualifying.
Fourth and fifth on the class grid will be the pair of Porsche 911 RSRs of Porsche Team Manthey, with the No. 91 narrowly topping the team's No. 92 in the 20-minute qualifying session.
GTE-Am
The No. 50 Corvette C7.R of French-based Larbre Competition has finally claimed pole position in the GTE-Pro category after an exceptional start to the weekend at Fuji.
Paolo Ruberti and Gianluca Roda set an average of 1:39.901 in qualifying - good enough for a gap of two-tenths over the class points-leading No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari of Aleksey Basov and Victor Shaytar which qualified second.
Perhaps aided by the Balance of Performance adjustment it was issued of a 20 kg weight reduction, the Corvette will be driven by Nicolai Slyvest alongside Ruberti and Roda for tomorrow's six-hour event.
Completing the top-five behind the SMP Ferrari in the GTE-Am class was the No. 98 of Aston Martin Racing, No. 83 Ferrari of AF Corse, and No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche.
The Six Hours of Fuji will go green on Sunday at 11 am track local time (Saturday, 10 pm ET).