British driver Johnny Herbert took pole for this weekend's Le Mans 24-hour classic as Audi dominated the first round of Thursday qualifying.

Alongside Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori, Herbert edged out Audi's other team of Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen - who won last year's event.

And Audi also grabbed third place on the grid with their other team of Germans Michael Krumm and Marco Werner and Austrian Philipp Peter.

Capello, Pescatori and Herbert clocked a best time of 3min 29.905sec with an average speed of 234.105kmh over the 13.650km circuit.

Thursday's two-hour session only served to boost Audi's chances of a three-in-a-row success in the race when it gets underway on Saturday afternoon.

Dutch veteran Jan Lammers showed his class to put in the seventh best time in the Dome Racing for Holland entry.

His team was stripped of their Wednesday time after it was discovered that the fuel did not conform to the rules.

Only the Dallara-Judd of Stephane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny and Nicolas Minassian were able to mount any realistic challenge but even their time of 3min 31.863sec was almost two seconds down on the leading Audi.

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Leading grid positions for this weekend's Le Mans 24-hour endurance after second qualifying on Thursday:

1 Rinaldo Capello (Ita)/Johnny Herbert (GB)/Christian Pescatori (Ita) Audi three minutes 29.905 seconds
2 Tom Kristensen (Den)/Frank Biela (Ger)/Emanuele Pirro (Ita) Audi 3:30.219
3 Michael Krumm (Ger)/Marco Werner (Ger)/Philipp Peter (Aut) Audi 3:30.801
4 Franck Montagny (Fra)/Stephane Sarrazin (Fra)/Nicolas Minassian (Fra) Dallara-Judd 3:31.828
5 Jan Lammers (Net)/Val Hillebrand (Net)/Tom Coronel (Net) Dome 3:32.734
6 Mark Blundell (GB)/Julian Bailey (GB)/Kevin McGarrity (GB) MG 3:33.254
7
Olivier Beretta (Mon)/Erik Comas (Fra)/Pedro Lamy (Por) Dallara-Judd 3:33.403
8 JJ Lehto (Fin)/Eric Bernard (Fra)/Emmanuel Collard (Fra) Cadillac 3:33.569
9 Jan Magnussen (Den)/David Brabham (Aus)/Bryan Herta (US) Panoz 3:34.842
10 Wayne Taylor (US)/Max Angelelli (Ita)/Christophe Tinseau (Fra) Cadillac 3:35.042