The 27-year-old set the pole time in the final moments of the Hyperpole session to head the #83 AF Corse-entered 499P of Robert Shwartzman by 0.419s. The second of the factory-run cars, the #51 entry driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, rounded out the top three with the best time of 1m29.953s.

The #6 Porsche Penske 963 with Kévin Estre behind the wheel was the best non-Ferrari in fourth place as the Frenchman led the sister car of Matt Campbell who recovered from a trip across the Tamburello gravel trap.

Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hypercar was the better of the two Toyotas in sixth place, with his team-mate Brendon Hartley spinning at Tosa and ending up down in eighth.

René Rast ensured seventh place on the grid for the BMW M Team WRT, with the top ten completed by two privately-entered Porsches, the #12 Hertz Team Jota car of Callum IIott and Julien Andlauer’s #99 Proton Competition entry.

QATAR-WINNING PORSCHE ON LMGT3 POLE
Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 RSR LMGT3 driven by Aliaksandr Malykhin was the fastest LMGT3 machine in the Hyperpole session, setting the best lap of 1m42.365s to take pole by 0.692s.

Joining Malykhin on the front row will be the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage which was driven by Ian James in qualifying. The UK-born American citizen lapped the 4.9-kilometre circuit in 1m43.058s.

Third in LMGT3 was the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 driven by Ahmad Al Harthy. The Omani driver outpaced the sister #31 car with Darren Leung aboard.

Sarah Bovy in Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan took fifth position ahead of the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang driven by local racer Giorgio Roda.

Tomorrow’s WEC 6 Hours of Imola is scheduled to begin at 13:00 local time.