LMP2 proved to be a Porsche celebration as van Merksteijn Motorsport and Team Essex ensured that the Porsche RS Spyder will start from first and second in class for its debut at La Sarthe.

The Team Essex entered car had held pole overnight thanks to Sascha Maassen's lap on Wednesday evening, but Jos Verstappen bettered that time in the opening session of Thursday before going even quicker in the fourth and final session. His time of 3m 32.301s was enough to secure pole by more than a second from the Team Essex machine, which failed to better its time on the day- when its quickest lap was some six seconds slower than that managed by former F1 ace Verstappen.

The Barazi-Epsilon Zytek also didn't improve its time on day two of qualifying but maintained its slender advantage over the Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola, which endured a frustrating day after a trip off track and will start from fourth in class. Embassy Racing's debuting WF01-Zytek was another car relying on its Wednesday performance to secure its grid position and will start from a highly respectable fifth in class ahead of the RML MG-Lola, which rebounded from an accident on Wednesday to jump up the order in the opening session on Thursday.

The Quifel-ASM Lola starts seventh in class ahead of the Saulnier Pescarolo – which is just behind its 'big brother' on the overall grid. The Trading Performance Zytek and Bruichladdich Radical both improved their times in the final session to take eight and ninth in class, while the Kruse Schiller Lola brings up the rear of the class as it continues to undergo repairs following Hidecki Noda's huge shunt on Wednesday night.

The anticipated Corvette versus Aston Martin battle for pole position in GT1 finally exploded into life on Thursday evening, but even then, Larbre Competition was able to put a spanner firmly in the works with its Saleen.

In an action-packed start to the final session, Oliver Gavin jumped into class pole in the #64 Corvette but was then demoted back into second place thanks to a stellar lap from Jan Magnussen in the sister car – which was good enough to put him just outside the top 30 overall.

Antonio Garcia in the #009 Aston Martin and Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the #007 then responded with their fastest laps of the week to close onto the rear of the Corvettes but it was Christophe Bouchut in the Saleen that ended up splitting the two C6.Rs to secure second.

The IPB Spartak Lamborghini starts from sixth in class ahead of the first of the Luc Alphand Corvettes – which stopped on track in the final session – and the Team Modena Aston Martin, which rebounded from losing a wheel in Thursday's first session to post the eighth quickest GT1 time The Vitaphone Aston Martin and the second Alphand Corvette complete the GT1 field.

The battle for the GT2 pole went right to Thursday night when the top three cars all dipped below the four minute mark to demote overnight pole-sitters Flying Lizard Motorsports down to fourth.

Patrick Long produced a best time of 3m 58.152s to take top sport for the IMSA Performance tea and he was nearly a second clear of the similar Porsche 997 GT3 RSR of Felbermayr-Proton's Wolf Henzler. Le Mans Series GT2 champion Rob Bell upheld Ferrari honours by placing the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari in third place.