Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1: “It is great to start in Le Mans with both cars from the front row. This achievement is the result of painstaking work by the team to prepare the two 919 Hybrids, and this gives us the best possible basis to reach our goal and defend last year’s Le Mans win.”

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: “The result proves that we as a team went in the right direction when developing the 919 Hybrid for 2016. Both car crews did a sensational job. Despite difficult conditions, we have managed to bring both cars so far through the race week without any technical issues, and on track we had no incidents either. We know we’ve got a fast car – but we are well aware that pole position, especially in Le Mans, doesn’t mean a lot in paving the way to a Sunday success. Now we will go and do final preparations for the race. We’ve got huge respect for the task ahead. The competition will be strong, but we feel ready and confident.”

Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport: “The weather conditions today didn’t allow us faster lap times. We were able to fine-tune the setup on our 911 RSR for rainy conditions, but our drivers didn’t get much track time. The result is sobering, of course. The gap to the leaders is very large. Let’s see whether the rule makers come to a final decision, after the promised analysis, concerning the BoP of the GT cars for tomorrow’s race. Apart from this, we’re totally focused and we’ll tackle this fascinating classic with great enthusiasm. The race runs over 24 hours, it shouldn’t make a difference what our grid positions are.”