Porsche's Bamber and Hartley Claim Pole at Fuji

Porsche LMP Team's Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley combined to take a second pole position of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship season at a wet Fuji Speedway this afternoon.

The Kiwi duo set an average of 1m35.160s in the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid to head the sister No.1 car by just 0.071s in a thrilling session.

The extra point achieved by the No.2 crew for pole today sees them extend their title lead to 52pts with just a maximum of 77 now to play for. This means that they just have to finish ahead of the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing crew of Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima in the race tomorrow in order to seal the 2017 Drivers' crown.

Toyota Gazoo Racing will start third and fourth on the grid with the No.8 trio ahead of stablemates Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez in the No.7 TS050 HYBRID.

LMP2 witnessed a first pole of the season for the No.13 Vaillante Rebellion car after a close and compelling session. Nelson Piquet Jnr set the early pace before handing over to David Heinemeier-Hansson who consolidated the average time to 1m44.196s to seal the top spot.

Bruno Senna and Julien Canal made it an excellent day for the Swiss team as they ensured a front-row lock-out with second position.

LMP2 points standings leaders Thomas Laurent and Ho-Pin Tung placed third as they look to increase their 20-point lead at the top of the 2017 rankings.

The Headlines from qualifying at Fuji….

• No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley takes second pole of the season at a wet Fuji
• Sensational last gasp battle between Andre Lotterer in No.1 Porsche and stablemate Brendon Hartley in No.2 919 Hybrid sees the Kiwi win the fight
• Bamber and Hartley set an average of 1m35.160 between them
• Just 0.071 covers the two Porsches
• Toyota start third and fourth with No.8 heading No.7 TS 050 HYBRID
• Nick Tandy set fastest overall lap of 1m35.088s in No.1 car in first phase of qualifying
• In LMP2 pole goes to the No.13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca-Gibson driven by Nelson Piquet Jnr and David Heinemeier-Hansson.
• The pair take first pole of season after Piquet Jnr. Sets blistering early lap of 1m43.330s
• Sister Vaillante Rebellion of Bruno Senna and Julien Canal takes second position to make it a front-row lock-out for Swiss team
• No.38 Jackie Chan car of Thomas Laurent and Ho-Pin Tung places third as it looks to increase points lead in the class