Kamui Kobayashi put Toyota's No.7 car on pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Friday (NZ time) with the Japanese driver hoping to finally shrug off his jinx in the endurance race.
Elsewhere, in Toyota's No.8 car, Kiwi driver Brendon Hartley will start the 24-hour race from second on the grid, missing pole position by 0.295s.
Hartley is partnered by Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi and Japan's Kazuki Nakajima, and is looking for his third Le Mans victory after winning in 2017 and 2020.
Kobayashi has taken four poles in five years at the Sarthe circuit in north-west France, with Toyota's number eight car taking the other in 2018, but has yet to win the biggest prize in sportscar racing.
Hartley's No.8 Toyota, with Kobayashi's compatriot Kazuki Nakajima, has won for the past three years and will start the 89th edition of the race from second on the grid on Sunday (NZ time).
The half-hour hyperpole shootout was ultimately a battle between the two factory Toyota GR010 hybrid hypercars, with Kobayashi fastest in three minutes 23.9 seconds and Hartley 0.295s back.
"We were not really confident because it's so easy to make a mistake when you push so hard," said Kobayashi, the outright track record holder who shares the car with Britain's Mike Conway and Argentina's Jose-Maria Lopez.
"I think the car's really good, the team did a great effort."
Alpine took third place with Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre in the No.36 car and the No.708 Glickenhaus Racing entry with compatriot Olivier Pla at the wheel was fourth.
The hyperpole qualifying format was first introduced last year and features the six quickest teams in each class, or five in the case of the top hypercar category.
Reuters