An ultimate lap of 1:57.665s in the Hyperbole session was good enough for the 24 Hours of Le Mans winner to take pole at the track he and the #83 crew won at 12 months ago.

The earlier qualifying session to discover the top ten that went through to the Hyperpole shootout saw Proton Competition Porsche driver Nicolas Varrone lead the way on a 1:58.155s after a thrilling session in damp but drying conditions.

In LMGT3 the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang driven by Giammarco Levorato clinched the top spot after he peaked on a time of 2m07.645.

The #88 car only made the cut from qualifying in to Hyperpole after the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus was excluded after Petru Umbrarescu was penalised for taking the chequered flag twice in the qualifying session

Proton Competition also made it a 1-2 for Ford Mustang on home soil as the #77 car with Ben Tuck aboard lapped just 0.018s off Levorato’s ultimate pace.

Yasser Shahin in the #31 The Bend Team WRT BMW topped the initial qualifying session with a time of 2m12.241s, a huge 1.130s ahead of the opposition.

The race is schedule to go green at 13.00 local time tomorrow.