With more than 900 horsepower on hand, Porsche driver Neel Jani blew away the qualifying record for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jani delivered a staggering 3:16.887 lap in the No. 18 Porsche 991 Hybrid to take the provisional pole and eclipse the 3:18.513 record set by Peugeot driver Stephane Sarrazin in 2008 by 1.626 seconds. Jani turned his record-breaking time within minutes of the green flag that signaled the start of the first of three two-hour qualifying sessions on the massive 8.47-mile circuit.

“I promise you, it felt quick,” said the Porsche pilot. “The track was still a bit green after the rain. I know there is more in it.”

Porsche dominated qualifying as a trio of 991 Hybrids topped the time sheet when the clock struck midnight and the session concluded. Timo Bernhard put the No. 17 Porsche in the second spot at 3:17.767 and Nick Tandy nailed the third position with a 3:19.297 in the No. 19 Porsche.

A trio of Audi R18 e-tron quattros were fourth through sixth in the session. Loic Duval was the quickest of the Audi drivers at 3:19.866 in the No. 8, followed by Marco Bonanomi (3:21.081 in the No. 9) and Benoit Treluyer (3:23.194 in the No. 7).

Toyota TS040 Hybrids were seventh and eighth, more than six seconds behind the pole-winning Porsche. The No. 2 of Mike Conway, Stephane Sarrazin, and Alex Wurz ended up .224 seconds ahead of the reigning WEC champion No. 1 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson, and Kazuki Nakajima.

A pair of Rebellion R-Ones were ninth and tenth, and the Nissan GT-R LM NISMO prototypes 11th, 13th, and 14th.

The No. 47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan was on top in the LMP2 category at 3:38.032.

Qualifying will continue on Thursday night with a pair of two-hour sessions that could see even quicker times on the Circuit de la Sarthe.