Kamui Kobayashi took the pole in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid with a 1m29.234s on his first flying lap.
Brendon Hartley’s first lap in the sister car was a 1m29.285s, before he made a minor improvement to 1m29.254s.
Matthieu Vaxiviere took third position aboard the Alpine A480-Gibson, ending up only two tenths behind the Toyotas on a 1m29.446s.
The two Peugeots were both within a second of the pace in fourth and fifth positions.
A 1m30.000s from Jean-Eric Vergne in the #93 Peugeot 9X8 gave him fourth place, while Loic Duval ended up on a 1m30.152s in #94.
- Watch all WEC races, including this weekend's 6 Hours of Fuji, live on Motorsport.tv
Antonio Felix da Costa took LMP2 pole for the JOTA squad with a 1m31.649s aboard the #38 Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2.
That put him half a second up on the pack after the first runs, but the gap was narrowed after all the leading runners went for further runs on a second set of tyres.
Da Costa was unable to improve his time, but Nicklas Nielsen got down to a 1m31.929s in the AF Corse Pro/Am Oreca to take second position.
Robin Frijns had qualified third in the #31 WRT Oreca on a 1m32.059s but had his laptime scratched for a track limits violation, dropping him to fourth behind Ferdinand Habsburg in the sister #41 Realteam by WRT car.
Porsche tops GTE Pro qualifying
Michael Christensen took pole position for Porsche in GTE Pro.
The Dane grabbed the top spot on his first flying lap with a 1m36.371s aboard the #92 Porsche 911 RSR, which ended up nearly two tenths clear of James Calado in the fastest of the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.
Calado’s 1m36.566s gave him a similar margin over the second Porsche qualified by Gianmaria Bruni, who posted a 1m36.800s.
Miguel Molina took fourth spot in the second of the Ferraris with a 1m36.851s set on his third flying lap.
Corvette's Nick Tandy brought up the rear of the five-car GTE Pro class on a 1m37.127s.
Ben Keating claimed a third pole of the season in GTE Am aboard the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE, pipping Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Ferrari by just five hundredths of a second.
Keating set a 1m39.309s, which compared with Bovy’s 1m39.371s.
Franck Dezoteux took third in the AF-run Spirit of Race Ferrari.
The Fuji 6 Hours, the penultimate round of this year’s WEC, begins at 11:00 local time on Sunday.
Hypercar and LMP2 results:
GTE results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Avg Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 92 |
 Michael Christensen  Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'36.371 | |
| 2 | 51 |
 Alessandro Pier Guidi  James Calado |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'36.566 | 0.195 |
| 3 | 91 |
Gianmaria Bruni  Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'36.800 | 0.429 |
| 4 | 52 |
 Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'36.851 | 0.480 |
| 5 | 64 |
 Tommy Milner Nick Tandy |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.127 | 0.756 |
| 6 | 33 |
Ben Keating  Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.309 | 2.938 |
| 7 | 85 |
 Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting  Sarah Bovy |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.371 | 3.000 |
| 8 | 71 |
Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.461 | 3.090 |
| 9 | 777 |
 Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.710 | 3.339 |
| 10 | 46 |
Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.796 | 3.425 |
| 11 | 54 |
Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.809 | 3.438 |
| 12 | 56 |
Takeshi Kimura Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.853 | 3.482 |
| 13 | 77 |
 Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.874 | 3.503 |
| 14 | 88 |
Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'40.052 | 3.681 |
| 15 | 86 |
Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'40.271 | 3.900 |
| 16 | 21 |
Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich  Toni Vilander |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'40.418 | 4.047 |
| 17 | 60 |
Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'40.683 | 4.312 |
| 18 | 98 |
 Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | ||
| View full results | ||||||
