Simon Pagenaud earned Peugeot pole position for the AUTOSPORT 6 Hours of Silverstone Le Mans Series in tricky qualifying conditions.

Spots of rain threatened at the start of the session, prompting the LMP field to attack from the outset. Pagenaud and Sarrazin traded times in the No. 7 and No. 8 Peugeots, before the Frenchman pulled clear with a 1m43.943s effort. Allan McNish was the first to reply in the No. 2 Audi R18, moving to within nine tenths of Pagenaud and then setting the overall fastest sector two times, only for traffic to dent his second flyer.

Rain then fell and effectively looked like bringing the session to a premature close, with Peugeot calling both drivers in and hesitantly beginning celebrations. McNish opted to stay out for one more lap, and as the rain began to ease looked well poised. The session had been declared wet meaning tire choices were free, and with Peugeot's charges halted Audi strapped fresh rubber to McNish's car and weighed up a final push. The decision was taken away from them as the time ticked down, however, although several cars did go out and made substantial gains.

Nicolas Prost in the No. 12 Rebellion was one of the beneficiaries, rising to fifth overall behind the No. 8 Peugeot and No. 1 Audi. Danny Watts also made gains to go fastest in LMP2 in the No. 42 Strakka HPD, while Tom Kimber-Smith also improved late on to take second for the No. 41 Greaves Motorsport squad.

Across in the GTE Pro class, which had qualified earlier and therefore avoided the drama of the rain, BMW perfectly executed a perfect session as they locked out the front row of the grid and left their rivals no time or chance to respond. Neither car had turned a wheel with seven minutes of the session remaining, but one lap each in the final minutes proved all that was needed.

Augusto Farfus led the charge in the No. 56 M3, storming to a 2m01.768s – at the time putting him almost a second clear of an otherwise extremely close field. Andy Priaulx then took his turn, falling 0.3sec short but still comfortably securing second. He was on a faster second lap when he hit traffic, and opted to return to the pits.

Before BMW's emphatic late display, the top six cars had been separated by just 0.227s. Toni Vilander put the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 top ahead of Marc Lieb in the No. 77 Felbermayr Porsche 911, but the pair will now start third and fourth in the Pro class.

As has been the case all weekend, the battle for the GTE Am class was fought between the Porsches. Nicolas Armindo claimed the top spot as the flag fell, putting his No. 67 IMSA 911 two tenths clear of the No. 63 Proton 911 qualified by America's Patrick Long.


Pos   Cl     Drivers                      Team/Car                     Time      

 1.   LMP1   Bourdais/Pagenaud            Peugeot                     1m43.924s

 2.   LMP1   Kristensen/McNish            Audi                        1m44.856s

 3.   LMP1   Montagny/Sarrazin            Peugeot                     1m45.102s

 4.   LMP1   Bernhard/Fassler             Audi                        1m46.621s

 5.   LMP1   Prost/Jani                   Rebellion Lola-Toyota       1m47.684s

 6.   LMP1   Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues         Oak Pescarolo-Judd          1m47.785s

 7.   LMP1   Nicolet/Premat/Pla           Oak Pescarolo-Judd          1m47.890s

 8.   LMP1   Belicchi/Boullion            Rebellion Lola-Toyota       1m48.287s

 9.   LMP1   Collard/Tinseau/Jousse       Pescarolo-Judd              1m48.624s

10.   LMP2   Leventis/Watts/Kane          Strakka HPD                 1m49.619s

11.   LMP2   Ojjeh/Kimber-Smith/Lombard   Greaves Zytek-Nissan        1m50.922s

12.   LMP1   Fernandez/Primat/Klien       AMR Lola-Aston              1m52.151s

13.   LMP2   Beche/Thiriet/Firth          TDS ORECA-Nissan            1m52.224s

14.   LMP2   Frey/Meichtry/Rostan         Race Performance ORECA-Judd 1m52.457s

15.   LMP2   Mailleux/Ordonez/Vernay      Signatech ORECA-Nissan      1m53.233s

16.   LMP2   Kraihamer/Ebbesvik           Boutsen ORECA-Nissan        1m53.247s

17.   LMP2   Companc/Russo/Kaffer         Pecom Lola-Judd             1m53.791s

18.   LMP2   Newton/Erdos/Collins         RML HPD                     1m55.236s

19.   LMP2   Barlesi/da Rocha/Lafargue    Oak Pescarolo-Judd          1m57.817s

20.   FLM    Hartshorne/Keating/Keen      Neil Garner FLM             1m58.143s

21.   FLM    Marcelli/Ducote/Moro         JMB FLM                     1m59.053s

22.   FLM    Mitchell/Grogor/Kronfli      Genoa FLM                   1m59.907s

23.   FLM    Schultis/Simon/Schell        Pegasus FLM                 2m00.061s

24.   GTE-P  Farfus/Muller                BMW                         2m01.768s

25.   GTE-P  Priaulx/Alzen                BMW                         2m02.096s

26.   GTE-P  Melo/Vilander                AF Corse Ferrari            2m02.744s

27.   GTE-P  Lieb/Lietz                   Felbermayr Porsche          2m02.787s

28.   GTE-P  Ortelli/Makowiecki           Luxury Ferrari              2m02.934s

29.   GTE-P  Pilet/Henzler                IMSA Porsche                2m02.937s

30.   GTE-P  Goossens/Holzer              Prospeed Porsche            2m02.950s

31.   GTE-P  Fisichella/Bruni             AF Corse Ferrari            2m02.971s

32.   GTE-P  Bell/Walker                  JMW Ferrari                 2m03.118s

33.   GTE-P  Broniszewski/Peter           Kessel Ferrari              2m03.295s

34.   GTE-P  Hancock/Dolan/Buncombe       Jota Aston Martin           2m03.433s

35.   GTE-P  Jakubowski/Beltoise/Marroc   Luxury Ferrari              2m03.659s

36.   GTE-P  Farnbacher/Simonsen          Farnbacher Ferrari          2m03.864s

37.   GTE-A  Narac/Armindo                IMSA Porsche                2m04.028s

38.   GTE-A  Roda/Long                    Proton Porsche              2m04.172s

39.   GTE-A  Ehret/Lynn/Wills             CRS Ferrari                 2m04.427s

40.   GTE-A  Krohn/Jonsson/Rugulo         Krohn Ferrari               2m04.987s

41.   GTE-A  Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret      AF Corse Ferrari            2m05.103s

42.   GTE-P  Rossiter/Mowlem/Wendlinger   Jetalliance Lotus           2m05.143s

43.   GTE-A  Felbermayr/Ried              Felbermayr Porsche          2m06.392s

44.   GTE-A  Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright     Gulf Aston Martin           2m06.976s

45.   GTE-P  Lichtner-Hoyer/Rich/Hansson  Jetalliance Lotus           2m07.831s

46.   GTE-A  Hummel/Christodoulou/Quaife  CRS Ferrari                 2m13.219s

47.   LMP1   Cortes/Geri/Picini           MIK Zytek                   -

48.   LMP2   Gates/Hughes/Garofall        RLR MG Lola-Judd            -

49.   GTE-A  Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel      Larbre Corvette             -