An improvement by O'Connell's No. 63 Corvette caused it to qualify in third. White Lighting's third session lap secured the team the LMGT category pole position. Jaime Melo's JMB Ferrari and Rockenfeller's Orbit Porsche were second and third in their class. Pole position winners in each class are indicated in bold and by a The fastest time set by each entry is denoted in gray. The drivers took to the track at 09:00 Central European Summer Time () for a 45-minute warm-up session in clear weather. Teams used the session as a final opportunity to check the setup and reliability of their cars. Lehto's No. 2 Champion Audi set the fastest time with a 3 minutes and 36.078 seconds. The two Audi Sport UK R8s were second and third with the No. 8 narrowly ahead of the No. 88. Bourdais's No. 17 Pescarolo C60 car was fourth. The Team Goh Audi placed fifth, Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome car and the No. 22 Zytek 04S vehicle were sixth and seventh. The fastest LMP2 lap was recorded by Intersport Racing's Lola car at 4 minutes and 5.032 seconds. The No. 63 Corvette was the quickest vehicle in the LMGTS category and JMB's No. 70 Ferrari led in LMGT. Although the session passed without a major incident, Bourdais' engine cover came off his Pescarolo C60 car, and several drivers ran into the gravel traps beside the track. The weather at the start was overcast with an air temperature of and a track temperature of . 200,000 people attended the event. The French tricolour was waved by François Fillon, the Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research, at 16:00 local time to start the race, led by the starting pole sitter Jamie Davies. 48 cars planned to start but the No. 10 Lola B2K/10 and the No. 61 Barron Connor Racing Ferrari 575-GTC began from the pit lane due to a change of clutch and engine, respectively. The No. 14 Team Nasamax DM139 was extricated from the track too late after a fuel consumption test but the car joined the grid. Davies held off a challenge from his teammate McNish on the approach to the Dunlop Curve to lead the opening laps. The other two Audis of Lehto and Capello and Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome entry passed Andy Wallace's Zytek car to demote it from third to sixth.