June 11 (Reuters) - BMW took pole position for the Le Mans 24 Hours on Thursday after Cadillac seized the top slot but then dropped to 10th due to a pitlane infringement.
Cadillac had hoped for a second successive pole in the main event of the world endurance calendar but although Jack Aitken was fastest in the number 38 car it was the number 15 BMW, with Belgian Dries Vanthoor at the wheel, that came out on top.
Vanthoor shares his car with Danish former F1 driver Kevin Magnussen and Swiss-born Italian Raffaele Marciello.
Briton Aitken was penalised, by having his fastest lap deleted, for joining the pitlane fast lane a minute before cars were allowed to ahead of the final session.
"We gained nothing, so that makes it all the more difficult to accept," said Aitken of the penalty.
The number 23 Cadillac will line up second on the grid at the Circuit de la Sarthe in westernFrance with the number 35 Alpine qualifying third for the 94th edition of the race that starts on Saturday.
The pole was BMW's first of the Hypercar era at Le Mans.
Defending champions Ferrari qualified their factory AF Corse cars eighth and 12th. The separate, yellow-liveried AF Corse number 83 of last year's winners Phil Hanson, Yifei Ye and Robert Kubica qualified 17th.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Clare Fallon)
