With the threat of rain on Thursday looming, as well as good visibility and low track temperatures early in the two-hour session, the leading LMP1 contenders set their best times on their first flying laps.

It took just one fast lap for the practice benchmark set by the sister Toyota TS050 Hybrid driven by Jose Maria Lopez to be obliterated, with the Formula E driver's 3m19.626s lap comprehensively beaten by Nakajima's 3m17.270s tour.

Nakajima's time remained untouched for the remaining one hour and 52 minutes, with the #7 Toyota falling short of the #8 car's benchmark lap by just 0.107s, although the leading car had several laps deleted for excessive fuel consumption late on.

Buemi then took over from Nakajima before Alonso completed his mandatory five laps in night-time conditions.

Stephane Sarrazin took the #17 SMP Racing BR1 to third, the first of the non-hybrid privateers, and its 3m19.483s lap put it 2.213s adrift of the leading Toyota.

The two Rebellion R-13s were fourth and fifth in class with the #1 car in the hands of Bruno Senna edging out the #3 machine by just 0.283s, with its time set by Gustavo Menezes.

Renger van der Zande caused a slow zone midway through the session when he stopped the #10 DragonSpeed BR1 before the Dunlop Chicane, forcing a recovery of the car after it had set a time good enough for sixth.

Jenson Button completed his mandatory laps aboard the #11 SMP Racing BR1 that went on to provisionally secure seventh in the hands of Vitaly Petrov.

The ByKolles team dropped to eighth after it had two of its laptimes set by Tom Dillmann deleted for excessive fuel consumption.

Manor-Ginetta continued to struggle after it was forced to change an engine in the #5 car following electric problems and it delayed its participation in qualifying. 

It took 44 minutes for Mike Simpson to take the #5 car on track before a late improvement in the final six minutes from Leo Roussel lifted it to ninth in class and 11th overall provisionally, almost seven seconds off the leading non-hybrid LMP1 pace.

The sister #6 car was significantly slower, finishing back in 23rd overall after Williams F1 young driver Oliver Rowland set its best time.

IDEC Sport leads Oreca LMP2 sweep

The #48 IDEC Sport Oreca claimed provisional pole in LMP2, courtesy of a 3m24.956s from Paul-Loup Chatin, as Oreca swept the top five positions. 

#48 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 Gibson: Paul Lafargue, Paul-Loup Chatin, Memo Rojas

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Loic Duval in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca was one of the few drivers able to complete two flying laps before a spin for Gianmaria Bruni's pace-setting GTE Pro Porsche brought out the yellow flags, so took an early advantage before 2014 European Le Mans Series champion Chatin edged ahead by 0.284s.

The Frenchman was the only driver in the top six able to dip under his original time, leaving Duval second, ahead of practice pace-setter Jean-Eric Vergne in the TDS-run #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca, 1.491s off the pace. 

Pastor Maldonado was fourth quickest in the #31 DragonSpeed car, ahead of two-time class-winner Nicolas Lapierre for Signatech-Alpine.

Filipe Albuquerque was the best of the rest in the #22 United Autosports Ligier, which survived a trip through the gravel in Paul di Resta's hands late in the session.

#91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR: Richard Lietz, Gianmaria Bruni, Frédéric Makowiecki

Photo by: Scott R LePage / LAT Images

Porsche tops GTE qualifying

Porsche provisionally locked out the front row in GTE Pro with its pair of retro-inspired 911 RSRs.

Bruni demolished the class practice benchmark on his first flying lap with a remarkable 3m47.504s effort in the Rothmans-liveried car, putting himself 1.593s clear of the opposition.

He subsequently went off at the Dunlop Chicane on his very next lap, ending the #91's session early - but the Italian's time went unbeaten for the remainder of the session.

Bruni's nearest challenger was Michael Christensen, who set a 3m49.097s in the 'Pink Pig' #92 Porsche to go less than a tenth clear of Olivier Pla in the best of the Ganassi-run Ford GTs, the #66.

Dirk Muller made it a provisional all-Ford second row in the #68 car, four tenths further back, while Alessandro Pier Guidi's opening effort in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari proved good enough for fifth ahead of the two CORE autosport-run IMSA Porsches.

BMW enjoyed a more competitive first qualifying session after struggling in practice, as Antonio Felix da Costa managed to get the #82 M8 GTE up to ninth in class with a time 3.075s off Bruni's pace.

Aston Martin on the other hand continued to suffer, its pair of Vantage GTEs ending up 16th and 17th. Alex Lynn's best time in the #97 car was almost five seconds slower than that of Bruni.

Both Aston Martins, as well as the two Corvettes, were slower than the quickest car in GTE Am, the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Matteo Cairoli.

The Italian driver was 1.202s clear of Matt Campbell in the sister Dempsey-Proton car, with Ben Barker making it a trio of Porsches out front in the #86 Gulf Racing car.

Best of the non-Porsches was again the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari with Giancarlo Fisichella at the wheel.

Additional reporting by James Newbold

Full results:

Pos.	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Time	Gap
1	8	Fernando Alonso   Kazuki Nakajima   Sébastien Buemi	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	31	3'17.270
2	7	Kamui Kobayashi   Mike Conway   Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	33	3'17.377	0.107
3	17	Stéphane Sarrazin   Matevos Isaakyan   Egor Orudzhev	BR Engineering BR1	LMP1	24	3'19.483	2.213
4	1	Andre Lotterer   Bruno Senna   Neel Jani	Rebellion R13	LMP1	26	3'19.662	2.392
5	3	Mathias Beche   Thomas Laurent   Gustavo Menezes	Rebellion R13	LMP1	27	3'19.945	2.675
6	10	Henrik Hedman   Renger van der Zande   Ben Hanley	BR Engineering BR1	LMP1	13	3'21.110	3.840
7	11	Jenson Button   Vitaly Petrov   Mikhail Aleshin	BR Engineering BR1	LMP1	29	3'21.408	4.138
8	4	Oliver Webb   Dominik Kraihamer   Tom Dillmann	ENSO CLM P1/01	LMP1	24	3'22.505	5.235
9	48	Paul-Loup Chatin   Memo Rojas   Paul Lafargue	Oreca 07	LMP2	19	3'24.956	7.686
10	28	Loic Duval   François Perrodo   Matthieu Vaxiviere	Oreca 07	LMP2	26	3'25.240	7.970
11	5	Leo Roussel   Mike Simpson   Charlie Robertson	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	20	3'26.246	8.976
12	26	Jean-Eric Vergne   Roman Rusinov   Andrea Pizzitola	Oreca 07	LMP2	29	3'26.447	9.177
13	31	Pastor Maldonado   Nathanael Berthon   Roberto Gonzalez	Oreca 07	LMP2	18	3'26.508	9.238
14	36	Nicolas Lapierre   Pierre Thiriet   Andre Negrao	Alpine A470	LMP2	28	3'26.681	9.411
15	22	Paul di Resta   Filipe Albuquerque   Philip Hanson	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	24	3'26.772	9.502
16	37	Nabil Jeffri   Weiron Tan   Jazeman Jaafar	Oreca 07	LMP2	26	3'27.468	10.198
17	47	Felipe Nasr   Roberto Lacorte   Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	28	3'27.993	10.723
18	38	Ho-Pin Tung   Stéphane Richelmi   Gabriel Aubry	Oreca 07	LMP2	27	3'27.999	10.729
19	29	Jan Lammers   Giedo van der Garde   Frits van Eerd	Dallara P217	LMP2	30	3'28.556	11.286
20	35	Viktor Shaytar   Norman Nato   Harrison Newey	Dallara P217	LMP2	28	3'28.629	11.359
21	23	Will Stevens   Julien Canal   Timothé Buret	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	27	3'29.421	12.151
22	39	Vincent Capillaire   Tristan Gommendy   Jonathan Hirschi	Oreca 07	LMP2	29	3'29.860	12.590
23	6	Oliver Turvey   Alex Brundle   Oliver Rowland	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	17	3'30.339	13.069
24	32	Juan Pablo Montoya    William Owen   Hugo De Sadeleer	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	26	3'30.347	13.077
25	40	Jose Gutierrez   Enzo Guibbert   James Allen	Oreca 07	LMP2	21	3'31.291	14.021
26	44	Andrea Bertolini   Tracy Krohn   Nic Jönsson	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	30	3'33.532	16.262
27	34	David Heinemeier Hansson   Ricky Taylor   Côme Ledogar	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	20	3'33.755	16.485
28	33	David Cheng   Nicholas Boulle   Pierre Nicolet	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	23	3'35.237	17.967
29	50	Thomas Dagoneau   Romano Ricci   Erwin Creed	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	20	3'38.206	20.936
30	25	Mark Patterson   Tacksung Kim   Ate de Jong	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	28	3'44.177	26.907
31	91	Gianmaria Bruni   Richard Lietz   Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	2	3'47.504	30.234
32	92	Michael Christensen   Kevin Estre   Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	23	3'49.097	31.827
33	66	Stefan Mücke   Olivier Pla   Billy Johnson	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	26	3'49.181	31.911
34	68	Sébastien Bourdais   Joey Hand   Dirk Müller	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	22	3'49.582	32.312
35	51	James Calado   Alessandro Pier Guidi   Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	26	3'49.854	32.584
36	94	Romain Dumas   Timo Bernhard   Sven Muller	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	21	3'50.089	32.819
37	93	Nick Tandy   Patrick Pilet   Earl Bamber	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE PRO	18	3'50.261	32.991
38	67	Harry Tincknell   Tony Kanaan   Andy Priaulx	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	24	3'50.429	33.159
39	82	Antonio Felix da Costa   Augusto Farfus   Alexander Sims	BMW M8 GTE	LMGTE PRO	24	3'50.579	33.309
40	69	Ryan Briscoe   Scott Dixon   Richard Westbrook	Ford GT	LMGTE PRO	21	3'50.593	33.323
41	81	Nick Catsburg   Martin Tomczyk   Philipp Eng	BMW M8 GTE	LMGTE PRO	26	3'50.596	33.326
42	71	Sam Bird   Davide Rigon   Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	27	3'50.669	33.399
43	88	Khaled Al Qubaisi   Matteo Cairoli   Giorgio Roda	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	25	3'50.728	33.458
44	63	Jan Magnussen   Antonio Garcia   Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Corvette C7R	LMGTE PRO	23	3'50.789	33.519
45	64	Marcel Fassler   Oliver Gavin   Tommy Milner	Chevrolet Corvette C7R	LMGTE PRO	27	3'50.952	33.682
46	77	Christian Ried   Matt Campbell    Julien Andlauer	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	23	3'51.930	34.660
47	52	Pipo Derani   Toni Vilander   Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	27	3'52.112	34.842
48	97	Jonathan Adam   Maxime Martin   Alex Lynn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	26	3'52.486	35.216
49	86	Michael Wainwright   Ben Barker   Alex Davison	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	24	3'52.517	35.247
50	54	Giancarlo Fisichella   Francesco Castellacci   Thomas Flohr	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	27	3'52.756	35.486
51	56	Jörg Bergmeister   Patrick Lindsey   Egidio Perfetti	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	19	3'52.985	35.715
52	85	Jeroen Bleekemolen   Ben Keating   Luca Stolz	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	18	3'54.000	36.730
53	98	Pedro Lamy   Paul Dalla Lana   Mathias Lauda	Aston Martin Vantage	LMGTE AM	26	3'54.307	37.037
54	84	Jeff Segal   Liam Griffin   Cooper MacNeil	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	24	3'54.384	37.114
55	95	Marco Sorensen   Nicki Thiim   Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	26	3'54.780	37.510
56	70	Olivier Beretta    Motoaki Ishikawa   Eddie Cheever III	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	26	3'54.951	37.681
57	61	Matt Griffin   Mok Weng Sun   Keita Sawa	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE AM	28	3'55.076	37.806
58	80	Erik Maris   Christina Nielsen   Fabio Babini	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	21	3'55.569	38.299
59	90	Salih Yoluc   Euan Hankey   Charlie Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage	LMGTE AM	21	3'55.661	38.391
60	99	Patrick Long   Tim Pappas   Spencer Pumpelly	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	12	4'03.107	45.837