At the start of the session, Toyota's WEC driver Kazuki Nakajima laid the initial benchmark down with a time of 1m41.597s, before Daisuke Nakajima bettered it with a 1m41.289s.

Another WEC regular, Andre Lotterer, then briefly went quickest, before Vandoorne set a blistering time of 1m40.788s, becoming the first driver to dip into the 1m40s.

Despite a late improvement by Hiroaki Ishiura, the Belgian’s time proved enough to give him his first pole of the season.

Joao Paulo de Oliveira was third-quickest, with Bertrand Baguette qualifying alongside the Brazilian on the second row of the grid.

Nakajima eventually finished sixth behind Yuhi Sekiguchi, while Lotterer was seventh, all three separated by just 0.030s.

Daisuke Nakajima rounded off the Q3 runners at eighth, 0.517s off Vandoorne's time.

Championship leader Naoki Yamamoto was the biggest casualty in Q2, managing only 14th, while ex-Formula 1 drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Narain Karthikeyan qualified ninth and 12th respectively.

Former F1 tester James Rossiter finished 11th.