Kobayashi posted a 3m27.247s lap early in the one-hour qualifying period from which the fastest six cars in each class go through to Thursday evening’s Hyperpole session ahead of this weekend’s double-points round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Japanese driver’s time aboard the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid gave him a margin of almost exactly one tenth over the best of the two Glickenhaus 007 LMHs.
Olivier Pla posted a 3m27.355s in the #708 entry to beat Ryan Briscoe in the sister car, which ended up six tenths behind on a 3m27.978s.
The Alpine A480-Gibson grandfathered LMP1 car ended up fourth in the hands of Nicolas Lapierre on a 3m29.656s.
The #8 Toyota was in the pits receiving attention to its rear suspension early in the session when the quick times were posted and only made it out on track after a brief red-flag period after half an hour.
Light rain was already falling when Brendon Hartley began his lap, the New Zealander ending up with an unrepresentative 3m40.842s on an increasingly wet track.
With only five cars in the Hypercar class, the #8 car will still take part in the Hyperpole shoot-out on Thursday.
Kobayashi’s time compared with the 3m26.279s he posted in the initial qualifying session for last year’s 24 Hours.
Robin Frijns was fastest in LMP2 in the lead WRT Oreca 07-Gibson with a 3m29.898s.
That gave him a margin of two tenths over Antonio Felix da Costa, who managed a 3m30.124s in the best of the JOTA Orecas.
WRT’s second full-season WEC car, fielded in conjunction with Swiss entrant Realteam, took third position with Norman Nato on a 3m30.440s.
The two United Autosports entries took fourth and fifth positions, Alex Lynn edging out Filipe Albuquerque by less than a tenth.
The final P2 car to make it through to Hyperpole was the Prema Oreca thanks to a late improvement from Louis Deletraz shortly before the red flag.
Laurens Vanthoor led the way in GTE Porsche in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR with a 3m50.999s.
Antonio Garcia took second spot with a 3m51.132s in the best of the Corvette C8.Rs, while Frederic Makowiecki ended up third in the second of the two Manthey-run factory Porsches.
Nick Tandy was fourth in the second Chevy, while the two works AF Corse Ferrari took the final spots for Hyperpole in fifth and sixth positions.
James Calado ended up half a second off the pace in the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo on a 3m51.502s, while Antonio Fuoco was just over a tenth behind in the #52 sister car.
The only car not to make it through in GTE Pro was the privateer Ferrari run by Riley Motorsports.
The NorthWest AMR Aston Martin Vantage GTE ended up quickest in GTE Am courtesy of a 3m52.599s from Nicki Thiim, which was nearly a second up on second-place Mikkel Jensen in the Kessel Racing Ferrari.
The other cars to make the cut for Hyperpole were the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari, the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche and the #61 AF Ferrari.
Marco Sorensen lost a time good enough to make it through to a track limits violation in the TF Sport Aston, as did Spirit of Race Ferrari man Gabriel Aubry.
The session was red flagged for approximately 12 minutes at the halfway point when actor Michael Fassbender crashed his Proton Porsche at the first chicane on the Mulsanne Straight.
The 30-minute Hyperpole session begins at 20:00 on Thursday.
Cars advancing to Hyperpole:
Hypercar
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing (Kobayashi/Conway/Lopez)
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa)
#36 Alpine Elf Team (Lapierre/Vaxiviere/Negrao)
#708 Glickenhaus Racing (Pla/Dumas/Derani)
#709 Glickenhaus Racing (Briscoe/Westbrook/Mailleux)
LMP2
#9 Prema Orlen Team (Kubica/Deletraz/Colombo)
#22 United Autosports USA (Hanson/Albuquerque/Owen)
#23 United Autosports USA (Jarvis/Lynn/Pierson)
#31 WRT (Gelael/Frijns/Rast)
#38 JOTA (Da Costa/Gonzalez/Stevens)
#41 Realteam by WRT (Nato/Habsburg/Andrade)
GTE Pro
#51 AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Serra)
#52 AF Corse (Molina/Fuoco/Rigon)
#63 Corvette Racing (Catsburg/Garcia/Taylor)
#64 Corvette Racing (Sims/Milner/Tandy)
#91 Porsche GT Team (Bruni/Lietz/Makowiecki)
#92 Porsche GT Team (Estre/Christensen/Vanthoor)
GTE Am
#54 AF Corse (Flohr/Castellacci/Cassidy)
#57 Kessel Racing (Kimura/Schandorff/Jensen)
#61 AF Corse (Prette/Grunewald/Abril)
#77 Dempsey-Proton Racing (Ried/Tincknell/Priaulx)
#85 Iron Dames (Frey/Gatting/Bovy)
#98 Northwest AMR (Thiim/Dalla Lana/Pittard)
2022 Le Mans 24 Hours - first qualifying results:
| Pos. | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |
 Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez
| Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 3'27.247 | |
| 2 | 708 |
 Olivier Pla Romain Dumas Pipo Derani
| Glickenhaus 007 LMH | HYPERCAR | 3'27.355 | 0.108 |
| 3 | 709 |
 Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Franck Mailleux
| Glickenhaus 007 LMH | HYPERCAR | 3'27.978 | 0.731 |
| 4 | 36 |
André Negrão Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxivière | Alpine A480 | HYPERCAR | 3'29.656 | 2.409 |
| 5 | 31 |
 Sean Gelael Robin Frijns René Rast
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'29.898 | 2.651 |
| 6 | 38 |
 Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'30.124 | 2.877 |
| 7 | 41 |
Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'30.440 | 3.193 |
| 8 | 23 |
Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'30.568 | 3.321 |
| 9 | 22 |
Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque William Owen | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'30.639 | 3.392 |
| 10 | 9 |
 Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'30.651 | 3.404 |
| 11 | 1 |
Lilou Wadoux Sébastien Ogier Charles Milesi
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'31.368 | 4.121 |
| 12 | 65 |
Julien Canal Nico Jamin Job Van Uitert
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'31.382 | 4.135 |
| 13 | 5 |
Dane Cameron Emmanuel Collard Felipe Nasr
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'31.462 | 4.215 |
| 14 | 32 |
Rolf Ineichen Mirko Bortolotti Dries Vanthoor
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'31.808 | 4.561 |
| 15 | 30 |
Richard Bradley Guillermo Rojas Reshad de Gerus
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.000 | 4.753 |
| 16 | 37 | Ye Yifei Ricky Taylor Niklas Kruetten | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.008 | 4.761 |
| 17 | 28 |
 Oliver Rasmussen Ed JonesJonathan Aberdein | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.138 | 4.891 |
| 18 | 48 |
Paul Lafargue Paul Loup Chatin Patrick Pilet
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.285 | 5.038 |
| 19 | 34 |
Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.549 | 5.302 |
| 20 | 24 |
Rodrigo Sales Matt Bell Ben Hanley
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.956 | 5.709 |
| 21 | 35 |
Jean-Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye Francois Heriau | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'33.463 | 6.216 |
| 22 | 44 |
 Miroslav Konopka Bent Viscaal Tristan Vautier
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'33.480 | 6.233 |
| 23 | 39 |
Eric Trouillet Sebastien Page David Droux
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'33.483 | 6.236 |
| 24 | 3 |
Laurents Hörr Jean Glorieux Alexandre Cougnaud
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'34.524 | 7.277 |
| 25 | 47 |
Sophia Floersch John Falb Jack Aitken
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'36.371 | 9.124 |
| 26 | 83 |
François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'36.548 | 9.301 |
| 27 | 27 |
Cresp Christophe Michael Jensen Steven Palette
| Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 3'38.136 | 10.889 |
| 28 | 43 |
David Heinemeier Hansson Fabio Scherer Pietro Fittipaldi
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'38.491 | 11.244 |
| 29 | 8 |
Sebastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa
| Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 3'40.842 | 13.595 |
| 30 | 92 |
Michael Christensen Kevin Estre Laurens Vanthoor | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 3'50.999 | 23.752 |
| 31 | 63 |
 Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nicky Catsburg | Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 3'51.132 | 23.885 |
| 32 | 91 |
Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki
| Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 3'51.382 | 24.135 |
| 33 | 64 |
Tommy Milner Nick Tandy Alexander Sims
| Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 3'51.491 | 24.244 |
| 34 | 51 |
Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Daniel Serra
| Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 3'51.502 | 24.255 |
| 35 | 52 |
Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco Davide Rigon
| Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 3'51.614 | 24.367 |
| 36 | 98 |
 Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 3'52.559 | 25.312 |
| 37 | 57 |
Takeshi Kimura Frederik Schandorff Mikkel Jensen | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'53.489 | 26.242 |
| 38 | 54 |
Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Nick Cassidy | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'53.690 | 26.443 |
| 39 | 85 |
Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'54.081 | 26.834 |
| 40 | 74 |
Felipe Fraga Sam Bird Shane van Gisbergen | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 3'54.116 | 26.869 |
| 41 | 77 |
Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell
| Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'54.224 | 26.977 |
| 42 | 61 |
 Louis Prette Conrad Grunewald Vincent Abril | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'54.316 | 27.069 |
| 43 | 86 |
Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Ben Barker | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'54.323 | 27.076 |
| 44 | 56 |
Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'54.510 | 27.263 |
| 45 | 46 |
Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler
| Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'54.533 | 27.286 |
| 46 | 79 |
Cooper MacNeil Julien Andlauer Thomas Merrill | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'54.912 | 27.665 |
| 47 | 99 |
Andrew Haryanto Alessio Picariello Martin Rump | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'55.076 | 27.829 |
| 48 | 59 |
Alexander West Côme Ledogar Marvin Klein | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'55.162 | 27.915 |
| 49 | 21 |
Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander
| Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'55.308 | 28.061 |
| 50 | 55 |
Duncan Cameron Matt Griffin David Perel | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'55.617 | 28.370 |
| 51 | 75 |
Pierre Ehret Christian Hook Nicolas Varrone | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'55.672 | 28.425 |
| 52 | 66 |
Renger van der Zande Mark Kvamme Jason Hart | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 3'56.008 | 28.761 |
| 53 | 777 |
Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charles Fagg | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 3'56.437 | 29.190 |
| 54 | 88 | Fred Poordad Max Root Jan Heylen | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'56.516 | 29.269 |
| 55 | 33 |
Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Marco Sørensen | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 3'57.044 | 29.797 |
| 56 | 60 |
Claudio Schiavoni Alessandro Balzan Raffaele Giammaria
| Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 4'05.633 | 38.386 |
| 57 | 93 |
 Michael Fassbender Matthew Campbell Zacharie Robichon | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 4'07.907 | 40.660 |
| 58 | 80 |
Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella Richard Heistand | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 4'23.223 | 55.976 |
| 59 | 10 |
Nico Müller Ryan Cullen Sebastien Bourdais | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | ||
| 60 | 13 |
Philippe Cimadomo Mathias Beche Tijmen van der Helm
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3.658 | |
| 61 | 45 |
Steven Thomas James Allen Rene Binder
| Oreca 07 | LMP2 | ||
| 62 | 71 |
Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM |
