Porsche flexed its muscle in the opening round of the heavyweight fight between the factories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Porsche 919 Hybrids were first, third, and fourth in the premier LMP1 class at the conclusion of Wednesday’s four-hour free practice session.

The red No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, and Mark Webber set the pace with a fast lap of 3:21.362. The No. 17 Porsche’s fast lap was quicker than last year’s pole-winning time of 3:21.789 on a track that was alternately wet, damp, and dry as rain showers moved across the Circuit de la Sarthe. The teams also had to contend with 50 minutes of red flags and numerous caution periods that interrupted the session.

The No. 18 Porsche (Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, Marc Lieb) was .687 seconds back at 3:22.049 in third after Jani’s quicker lap was disallowed for infringing on the track limits. The No. 19 Porsche of Earl Bamber, Nico Hulkenberg, and Nick Tandy was third at 3:22.819.

The No. 8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval, and Oliver Jarvis broke up the Porsche parade with the second fastest time at 3:21.950, trailing its German rival by .588 seconds. The No. 7 Audi of defending Le Mans champions Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer, and Benoit Treluyer was fifth, a heartbeat ahead of the No. 9 Audi (Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi, Rene Rast).

Toyota TS040 Hybrids were seventh and eighth at the end of the four-hour practice, with the reigning WEC champion No. 1 of Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson, and Kazuki Nakajima ahead of the No. 2 of Mike Conway, Stephane Sarrazin, and Alex Wurz.

Nissan’s audacious front-engined Nissan GT-R LM NISMO prototypes were 11th, 12th, and 13th in class as the team continued to climb a steep learning curve. They slotted in behind a pair of Rebellions that were ninth and tenth.

Quickest in the hotly contested LMP2 category was the No. 47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan at 3:39.897.

After a two-hour break, the teams would be back on track for the first of three two-hour qualifying sessions that will set the grid for the 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.