Estoril ELMS: Lapierre snatches late pole for Dragonspeed

Lapierre, who led the #21 Oreca 05 to victory at Spa, was one of the last few drivers to take the chequered flag, lapping the Estoril circuit in 1m44.146s.

Behind, Paul-Loup Chatin qualified the #23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier in second place, having held provisional pole for majority of the session.

A gamble to use intermediate tyres paid dividends for G-Drive Racing, with star driver Giedo van der Garde qualifying third in the aging #38 Gibson 015S.

Olivier Pla took the #40 Krohn Racing Ligier to fourth position, while ex-F1 driver Vitaly Petrov piloted the #32 SMP Racing entry to fifth on the grid.

Championship leaders Thiriet by TDS Racing’s fortunes failed to improve, with Mathias Beche qualifying a lowly seventh during a fluffy session for the #46 Oreca 05.

However, the Thiriet by TDS squad only needs a fourth place finish in Sunday's race to guarantee the title.

United Autosports dominates LMP3 class

The #2 United Autosports crew, which wrapped up the title in Spa last month, took pole in the LMP3 class, with Alex Brundle setting a best time of 1m52.156s in the Ligier JS P3.

Wayne Boyd made it a one-two for United Autosports, ahead of the two Duqueine Engineering entries, the #19 car leading the charge for the French outfit.

Proton Racing takes GTE pole

In the GTE class, Ben Barker piloted the #88 Proton Racing to pole position, while the championship-leading #66 JMW Motorsport could qualify no higher than fifth.

Meanwhile, the #56 AT Racing secured the second spot on the GTE grid, with Alessandro Pier Guidi lapping 0.337s off the pace of the leading Porsche.

Further back, the two AF Corse entries were third and fourth, the #51 car qualifying ahead of the sister #55 machine.

Qualifying results (top 10):

Pos	#	Drivers	Car	Time	Gap
1	21	Nicolas Lapierre   Henrik Hedman   Ben Hanley	Oreca 05	1'44.146
2	23	Paul-Loup Chatin   Fabien Barthez   Timothé Buret	Ligier JS P2	1'44.553	0.407
3	38	Giedo van der Garde   Simon Dolan   Harry Tincknell	Gibson 015S	1'44.758	0.612
4	40	Olivier Pla   Nic Jonsson	Ligier JS P2	1'45.237	1.091
5	32	Vitaly Petrov   Andreas Wirth   Stefano Coletti	BR 01	1'45.857	1.711
6	28	Patrice Lafargue   Paul Lafargue   Dimitri Enjalbert	Ligier JS P2	1'46.352	2.206
7	46	Mathias Beche    Pierre Thiriet   Ryo Hirakawa	Oreca 05	1'47.125	2.979
8	29	Leo Roussel   Inès Taittinger   Julien Schell	Morgan	1'47.382	3.236
9	41	Julien Canal   Nathanael Berthon   Memo Rojas	Ligier JS P2	1'50.056	5.910
10	2	Alex Brundle   Mike Guasch   Christian England	Ligier JS P3	1'50.355	6.209