LM24: Ford, Porsche on preliminary poles

The first round of qualifying for the 84th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans featured no surprises at the top of the time chart as Porsche locked in a 1-2 in LMP1, but in GTE-Pro, jaws dropped as Ford Chip Ganassi Racing's IMSA team secured a 1-2 of its own, plus a 4-5.

The Nos. 68 and 69 Ford GTs weren't just fastest in the manufacturer-rich class; Dirk Muller and Ryan Briscoe lapped at a pace last seen in the GT1 days when Aston Martin and Corvette rocketed around the 8.5-mile circuit at speeds that worried some of the more average LMP2s.

"I tell you what, just being here is already an honor," Muller said after climbing from his car and receiving big hugs from co-drivers joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais. "Having the 50th anniversary for the Ford GT, how good is that? I finally got my clear lap at the end. Then finally, last lap, that was it. It was cool."

Muller's 3m51.185s lap was shadowed by Briscoe's 3m51.497s, and behind them, only AF Corse's No. 51 Ferrari 488 (3m51.568s) came close. The sister Nos. 67 and 66 GTs rounded out the top five. The defending GTE-Pro class winners at Corvette Racing posted the two slowest laps in their class, and encountered a bit of trouble when Ricky Taylor ran long at Mulsanne Corner and wedged his No. 63 C7.R in the gravel trap, which brought out a red flag.

Porsche established the early pace with 2015 polesitter Neel Jani as the Swiss driver set a 3m19.733s in his No. 2 919 Hybrid that stood for the rest of the two-hour session. Timo Bernhard came close in the No. 1 919 (3m20.203s), and if there was one genuine surprise in LMP1, it was seeing both Toyota TS050s displace the pair of Audi R18s. Granted, the best Toyota was 1.004 seconds behind Jani, but few would have predicted the new twin-turbo V6-powered prototypes would leave Audi so far behind. With one more qualifying session left tomorrow night, the German squad will need to find 2.733 seconds to draw level with Porsche, and 1.729 seconds to catch the top Toyota.

With rain in the forecast tomorrow, Porsche could have sealed pole with tonight's effort, but if more is needed, Jani is confident his 1000 hp 919 Hybrid is up to the task.

"It was not an easy session; a lot of traffic going on," he said. "Sometimes you had to take some risk. Maybe [the lap time is] enough, maybe it's not. It's a good start to the weekend. There's more left. I hit a lot of traffic, I lost quite a bit of lap time in the Porsche Curves. There's more in our pocket if we need it."

In LMP2, Rene Rast and the G-Drive team secured the fastest lap with a 3m36.605s lap in the ORECA 05-Nissan, and like GTE-Pro, the same chassis and engine dominated the class. In the case of the French ORECA, it recorded a 1-2-3-4.

GTE-Am saw the continued pace from the Clearwater Racing Ferrari F458 team in Free Practice 1 carry over as Rob Bell (3m56.827s) worked his usual magic to keep Aston Martin Racing's Vantage V8 (3m57.198s) and an AF Corse Ferrari F458 (3m57.596s) in his mirrors.

Qualifying had three red flags – all three for GTE cars stuck in the gravel, and one LMP2 car managed to spin twice in the same corner – but in a welcome change from FP1, no significant damage or fire took place.

Up next: Qualifying Round 2 from 7-9 p.m. local time.