On Wednesday night during the first qualifying session, Gianmaria Bruni clinched the pole in LMGTE Pro. One of the Porsche GT Team's latest recruits (a former Ferrari driver) was surprised by his own performance. "It was a very good lap and I couldn't have asked for better given there was a good deal of traffic until the Indianapolis Corner. I thought I'd lost a lot of time and when I saw the time posted, I thought it was a mistake."

Porsche holds the top two spots in the class thanks to the time clocked by the #92 shared by Christensen-Estre-Vanthoor (03:49:097). The #93 and #94 trail in sixth and eighth places. The German marque is in a good position to celebrate its 70th anniversary with a win, but at the 24 Hours of Le Mans expect the unexpected.

Pascal Zurlinden is the former chief test engineer for the Porsche LMP1 program and this year is changing hats to bring the Porsche 911 RSR to victory in only its second year. "It's quite satisfying. Gianmaria has proven the car is very fast. We had the best conditions when we hit the track for that qualifying lap and we gave it our all. Then we managed to be the fastest of all the times in LMGTE Pro at the 24 Hours of Le Mans! During the race, each driver line-up will do everything possible to get the best result. We have multiple strategies."

While expectations may be high for Porsche, the German marque is facing five other big manufacturers: Ford, Ferrari, Chevrolet Corvette, BMW and Aston Martin. 

MAIN PHOTO (Copyright - Michel Jamin/ACO): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, WEDNESDAY 13 JUNE 2018, FREE PRACTICE. The #91 Porsche 911 RSR fielded by Porsche GT Team clinched pole position in the LMGTE Pro class at qualifying.