Le Mans 24 Hours: Brendon Hartley secures pole for Saturday's race

The Le Mans 24 hours is nearly upon us as the 90th edition of the greatest endurance race of all takes place this Saturday, and the no.8 Gazoo Racing Toyota Hypercar will lead the field away after Brendon Hartley secured pole.

Qualifying took place on Thursday afternoon at the Circuit de la Sarthe and it proved a pulsating session, with Hartley taking P1 in the very final seconds.

Over the course of qualifying, a number of track limits infringements were awarded, deleting multiple lap times, and that kept us guessing as to who would be on pole not only for the entire field, but also per class.

In the end, though, it was former F1 driver Hartley who set his team up in the best way possible with a fine lap:

Brendon Hartley is the (Hyper) poleman of this year's @24hoursoflemans in 3:24.408. What a spectacle until the very last second! @TGR_WEC #WEC #LeMans24 @BrendonHartley pic.twitter.com/w4sOCbq54J

Of course, how important pole is for a race that lasts a full 24 hours is up for debate but, nevertheless, there’s still prestige to be had and it also provides for extra entertainment as we gear up for Saturday’s race.

Hartley, then, tops the Hypercar class with the other Toyota coming through in second in qualifying, at the hands of Kamui Kobayashi in the no.7 car.

Interestingly, it’s the Toyota team’s sixth straight Le Mans pole but it’s been the no.7 that’s been dominant lately, securing the last three before yesterday.

Hartley broke that run, though, with team-mates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa undoubtedly pleased as the team looks to extend their dominant run of winning the race into a fifth year.

Away from the Hypercar class, Robin Frijns took pole in the LMP2 category, in what was a WRT 1-2

Nick Tandy took pole for