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Hartley wins battle of Toyotas for Le Mans pole / Photo: © AFP
Hartley wins battle of Toyotas for Le Mans pole
Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa put their Toyota on pole for the Le Mans 24 Hour Race on Thursday as the Japanese manufacturer claimed a front-row lockout.
Former F1 driver Hartley secured his team's edge with a best time of 3 min 24.408 sec.
It was a sixth consecutive pole in the classic endurance event for Toyota.
The second Toyota hybrid, with 2021 pole-sitter Kamui Kobayashi behind the wheel, clocked 3 min 24.828 sec.
Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez share the driving duties with Kobayashi who once drove in F1 for the Japanese team.
The Alpine of Andre Negrao, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Nicolas Lapierre pushed the leaders hard, finishing third on 3 min 24.850 sec.
Despite Toyota's anticipated dominance, the pole time was slower than 2021 when Kobayashi clocked 3 min 23.900 sec.
Leading times
Front row
Sebastien Buemi - Ryo Hirakawa - Brendon Hartley (SUI-JPN-NZL/Toyota N.8/Hypercar/hybrid) 3:24.408
Mike Conway - Kamui Kobayashi - José Maria Lopez (GBR-JPN-ARG/Toyota N.7/Hypercar/hybrid) 3:24.828
2nd row
Andre Negrao - Matthieu Vaxiviere - Nicolas Lapierre (BRE-FRA-FRA/Alpine/Hypercar) 3:24.850
Ryan Briscoe - Richard Westbrook - Franck Mailleux (AUS-GBR-FRA/Glickenhaus N.709/Hypercar) 3:25.841
3rd row
Olivier Pla - Romain Dumas - Felipe Derani (FRA-FRA-BRE/Glickenhaus N.708/Hypercar) 3:26.359
Sean Gelael - Robin Frijns - René Rast (IDN-NLD-DEU/WRT N.31/LMP2) 3:28.394
4th row
Rui Andrade - Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen - Norman Nato (PRT-AUT-FRA/Realteam By WRT N.41/LMP2) 3:29.697
Filipe Albuquerque - Philip Hanson - Will Owen (ESP-GBR-USA/Oreca-Gibson/LMP2) 3:30.070
P. Batista--JDB
