Porsche ticked several key boxes on their return to Le Mans yesterday when they ended the first qualifying session 1-2.

The Stuttgart based manufacturer led their opponents Audi and Toyota in the shortened session with Kiwi, Brendon Hartley showing why he is considered one of the rising stars of endurance racing as he lapped the 8.72 mile circuit in 3m23.157s to lead the sister Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Swiss driver, Neel Jani, who set a 3m23.928s lap.

Hartley, who is undertaking his first season of LMP1 racing, was happy with his performance but still cautious as to where the form truly lies over the full race distance this weekend.

“Yes, it was a good first run at the start of the first qualifying. I was surprised to see that I topped the times. But obviously it is the very beginning of qualifying and we have a long way to go. Now we will continue the test-programme. I think we have already learned a lot from today though.”

Andrea Seidl who is Team Principal of the Porsche Team this season said: “The first qualifying session has been interrupted by red flags and finally stopped early. Both Neel (Jani) and Brendon (Hartley) managed to get a relatively clear lap each. We have a good base line now for the final two qualifying sessions on Thursday. However, we are well aware that our competitors could not exploit their full potential because of the interrupted session.”

The final qualifying sessions begin this evening at 19.00 local time.