Sebastien Bourdais put Peugeot on pole position for his home Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar classic with the French manufacturer locking out the top four places.
Locally-born Bourdais, a four times ChampCar champion in the United States and ex-Formula One driver, made sure of the top spot with a best lap of three minutes 19,711 seconds set in Wednesday evening’s qualifying session.
Nobody came close to beating that time on the damp and slippery 13,4km Sarthe track on Thursday, with the number one diesel-engined Peugeot 908 of Austrian Alex Wurz/Britain’s Anthony Davidson and Spain’s Marc Gene in second place.
France’s Stephane Sarrazin, who had been hoping for a fourth pole in a row, was denied the chance when the final stint in the number two car that qualified third was handed to fellow-Frenchman Nicolas Minassian.
The non-works Oreca Peugeot of Frenchmen Olivier Panis/Nicolas Lapierre and Loic Duval starts fourth with Audi filling the next three places.
“It was a really, really strong effort,” Bourdais, who partners compatriot Simon Pagenaud and Portugal’s Pedro Lamy in the number three Peugeot, told reporters.
“Everyone is really happy with the performance of the car and how comfortable it is to drive it. I am very proud to put the number three car on pole, but this is only the start.”
Peugeot dominated last year’s endurance classic with Wurz, Gene and Australian David Brabham securing the marque’s first Le Mans victory since 1993 and ending Audi’s five-year reign.
They return this time very much as favourites.
Aston Martin were the fastest of the petrol-engined cars in eighth place with their 007 car driven by Germany’s Stefan Mucke, Swiss Harold Primat and Mexican Adrian Fernandez.
Britain’s 1992 Formula One champion Nigel Mansell, racing at the age of 56 with his sons Greg and Leo in a Ginetta Zytek car, start in 18th position.
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