Porsches has scored the first bragging rights for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours by claiming the fastest time in yesterday’s annual test day.

Rain struck the circuit in both four hour sessions at Circuit de la Sarthe with New Zealander Brendon Hartley scoring the quickest time of the day aboard the No.17 machine he shares with Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard.

Hartley stopped the clocks at 3:21.061. While Porsche had the overall pace, strangely they were down on straight line speed compared to Audi, Toyota and Nissan who set the fastest top speed at 208mph.

Porsche scored a 1-2 with Neel Jani also into the 3 minute, 21 second bracket.

Young Audi driver Marco Bonanomi’s scored a 3:22.307 lap in the morning in the No. 9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro that held as the third quickest time overall, followed by Nick Tandy, who made it all three Porsches in the top-four overall.

The Nissan squad continued to develop their revolution front-wheel-drive entry – showing great top speed but still working on their overall pace. None of the three Nissan entries recorded a representative dry time as the team worked through minor issues on all three cars – one of which brought out a red flag.

Oak Racing set the pace in P2 with Laurens Vanthoor as Patrón ESM Racing made their Le Mans debuts.

In GTE-Pro Corvette Racing was second fastest on the day with Oliver Gavin setting the time with the No.4 machine. Aston Martin Racing was the pacesetters with the Darren Turner-led No. 97 entry.

Scrutineering for the Le Mans 24 Hours kicks off next Sunday and Monday before the cars hit the track for the first practice/qualifying sessions on June 10.