The first of three two-hour qualifying sessions to set the race's starting order began late 9 June night, in dry and cool conditions. Nicolas Lapierre set the early pace in the No. 4 Oreca Peugeot with a 3 minutes, 21.192 seconds lap until a fuel pick-up issue forced him to stop at Arnage corner, effectively ending his crew's running. In the final half-hour, Bourdais improved Lapierre's lap time to 3 minutes, 19.711 seconds, giving the No. 3 Peugeot provisional pole position. The sister Nos. 1 and 3 Peugeots of Alexander Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin were second and third, with Lapierre's No. 4 Oreca car fourth. Mike Rockenfeller and Benoît Tréluyer's No. 9 and 8 Audis were fifth and sixth. Kane's lap of 3 minutes, 36.168 seconds put the Strakka HPD ARX-01 car on provisional pole in LMP2, ahead of Brabham's Highcroft entry and Olivier Pla's Quifel ASM Team Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2 car. An early lap by Enge in the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin was enough to lead the LMGT1 category. Enge's lap was two seconds faster than Thomas Mutsch in Matech's second-placed No. 60 Ford followed by LAA's Corvettes of Julien Jousse and Jérôme Policand in third and fourth. Gianmaria Bruni put the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari on provisional pole in LMGT2 despite a broken gearbox output shaft requiring the attention of mechanics in the garage for most of the session. Jan Magnussen and Emmanuel Collard's Nos. 63 and 64 Corvettes were second and third in class. Separate accidents for the No. 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche's front-right blocking the circuit and Matías Russo with the No. 96 AF Corse Ferrari exiting the Porsche Curves disrupted the session.
