As temperatures cooled for the final qualifying session, more than half the field improved their fastest laps, but Kobayashi's time could not be bettered by any other LMP1 driver. He thus held the record to clinch Toyota's third pole position at Le Mans and their first since 2014. Nakajima improved the No. 8 car's time by more than two seconds to start alongside the sister No. 7 Toyota on the grid's front row. Porsche did not improve on their times from the second qualifying session and settled for third and fourth. Hartley precautionarily slowed and stopped the No. 2 Porsche at Indianapolis corner due to rising oil temperatures. He attempted to return to the pit lane on electric power but was forced to abandon the car. Lapierre improved early on but could only muster fifth position. Oliver Webb used clear air to move the ByKolles car back to sixth overall but was more than nine seconds off the pace. Lynn reset the LMP2 lap record early on by 11.3 seconds over the 2016 time. demoting the No. 25 Manor Oreca to second. Ho-Pin Tung's No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car took third and battled with Senna for the position. Oreca chassis, as well as the variant Alpine chassis, secured the first nine positions in LMP2, while the Dallara of SMP Racing was the fastest of the other chassis in tenth place.