Race direction called for a red flag five minutes from the end of the 20-minute prototype qualifying session in the wake of Frits van Eerd's incident in the gravel trap at the wheel of Racing Team Nederland's #29 Dallara at the Copse corner. At least the interruption was a short one for the five competitors who had yet to clock a time.

With just a few cars taking the track again at the end of the session, 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button took the opportunity to slip SMP Racing's #11 BR Engineering BR1 into third position just ahead of the #17 sister car and behind the two Toyotas. Two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso and his teammate Kazuki Nakajima, tasked with qualifying, settled for second position with the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in June, ceding pole position for the first time of the season to the #7 sister car shared by José María López and Mike Conway with a 1:36.895 lap.

Rebellion Racing's #3 and #1 Rebellion R13s qualified just behind TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and SMP Racing. The #1 will be driven by three-time Le Mans winner André Lotterer and 2016 24 Hours winner Neel Jani, their teammate Bruno Senna out of commission with an injured ankle after the first free practice on Friday.

The first row in LMP2 will also be dominated by cars from the same team: the ORECA 07s fielded by 2017 Le Mans winner Jackie Chan DC Racing. The fully Malaysian driver line-up of the "FortuneCat37" clocked the fastest time in 1:44.896 ahead of Gabriel Aubry and Stéphane Richelmi at the wheel of the "Mighty38" and the #36 Alpine A470 (based on an ORECA 07) entered by Signatech Alpine Matmut.

The LMGTE Pro class stands out in this race because the driver line-ups are composed exclusively of two drivers and because the #66 Ford GT that scored the pole (1:55.658 for Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla) will not be joined on the front row by the #67 sister car that placed fourth. The two American cars flank two Aston Martins, the #97 Vantage shared by Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin and the #95 driven by the "Dane Train" Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen.

In LMGTE Am, two Porsches fielded by different teams dominate the first row. The #77 911 RSR entered by Dempsey-Proton Racing, class winner at the 24 Hours in June, in second position behind Team Project 1's #56 911 RSR shared by Jörg Bergmeister and Egidio Perfetti (1:59.483). Third position was claimed by TF Sport's #90 previous generation Aston Martin Vantage.

The start at the 2018 6 Hours of Silverstone will be given on Sunday 19 August at noon (read WEC - Presentation of the 2018 6 Hours of Silverstone).

Results

 

PHOTO (Copyright - Joao Filipe, AdrenalMedia.com/FIA WEC): The #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid claimed the pole at the 2018 6 Hours of Silverstone.