After the second qualifying session was hit by heavy rain just 30 minutes of the 2-hour session had elapsed before heavy rain a large number of teams chose not to complete many laps in these conditions in order to protect their cars and drivers, with many competitors having already installed race engines and gearboxes in preparation for the 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Once the worst of the rain had stopped, and with more temperamental weather due on Saturday, teams opted to work on their wet-weather set up and test the limits of the rain tyres.

The capricious weather in the Sarthe region played havoc with teams’ plans to improve on yesterday’s times with the third and final qualifying session being red flagged for 57 minutes due to heavy rain and treacherous track conditions. The overall and class pole positions – and indeed very nearly all times from the 60-strong field – claimed yesterday remained unchanged.

Reigning Le Mans champions Porsche will lead away the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday, with the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid on pole position. Swiss driver Neel Jani set fastest time of the week in yesterday’s first qualifying, 3:19.733, in the car he will share with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, his second consecutive pole position for round 3 of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The No.1 of FIA WEC World Champions Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard makes it a Porsche 1-2. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s two TS050 HYBRIDS are filling the second row of the grid, followed by the two Audi R18s.

Rebellion Racing’s Dominik Kraihamer claimed the fastest time of the LMP1 Private Team entries in the No.13 R-One AER, ahead of the sister car and the No.4 ByKolles which is now repaired after its fire yesterday.

The FIA WEC cars proved to be the ones to beat in LMP2, with René Rast setting the pace in the No.26 G-Drive Racing ORECA 05 Nissan. His best lap of 3:36.605 put him ahead of the two Alpines of Baxi DC Racing (Nelson Panciatici) and Signatech Alpine (Nicolas Lapierre) with, fourth in class on its debut at Le Mans, was the No.44 Manor ORECA of Roberto Merhi.

Ford and Ferrari’s dominance yesterday was not challenged due to the conditions which remained tricky even after the rain had stopped. AF Corse’s Gianmaria Bruni in the No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE was sandwiched by two Ford GTs on either side of him in the LMGTE Pro category. The Porsches, Aston Martins and Corvettes will undoubtedly challenge more strongly in the race.

Aston Martin Racing’s No.98 V8 Vantage of Pedro Lamy upheld the WEC’s honour in the LMGTE Am category, second in class behind the Clearwater Racing Ferrari. One of the few changes in the order came in this class in this evening’s second qualifying session, with Pat Long moving the No.88 Abu-Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche into third place.

There is no track action today so teams can prepare for the big race which begins at 15h00 on Saturday 18th June

1. Dumas/Jani/Lieb GER Porsche 919 Hybrid 3m 19.733s LMP1 2. Webber/Hartley/Bernhard GER Porsche 919 Hybrid 3m 20.203s LMP1 3. Kobayashi/Sarrazin/Conway JPN Toyota Gazoo TS040 Hybrid 3m 20.737s LMP1 4. Davidson/Buemi/Nakajima JPN Toyota Gazoo TS040 Hybrid 3m 20.903s LMP1 5. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer GER Audi Sport Joest R18 e-tron 3m 21.466s LMP1 6. Jarvis/Duval/di Grassi GER Audi Sport Joest R18 e-tron 3m 22.780s LMP1 7. Tuscher/Kraihamer/Imperatori SUI Rebellion R-ONE AER 3m 22.586s LMP1 8. Prost/Piquet Jr/Heidfeld SUI Rebellion R-ONE AER 3m 27.348s LMP1 9. Trummer/Webb/Kaffer AUS ByKolles CLM P1/01 AER 3m 34.168s LMP1 10. Rusinov/Stevens/Rast RUS G-Drive Ligier Nissan 3m 36.605s LMP2 11. Cheng/Tung/Panciatici CHN Baxi DC Racing Alpine A460 – Nissan 3m 37.175s LMP2 12. Menezes/Lapierre/Richelmi FRA Signatech Alpine A460 – Nissan 3m 37.225s LMP2 13. Rao/Bradley/Merhi GBR Manor Oreca 05 – Nissan 3m 38.037s LMP2 14. Pew/Negri Jr/Vanthoor USA Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 – Honda 3m 38.837s LMP2 15. Derani/Dalziel/Cumming USA ESM Ligier JS P2 Nissan 3m 39.366s LMP2 16. Thiriet/Beche/Hirakawa FRA Thiriet By Tds Racing Oreca 05 – Nissan 3m 39.375s LMP2 17. Leventis/Kane/Watts GBR Strakka Gibson 015S Nissan 3m 39.394s LMP2 18. Matsuda/Howson/Bradley HKG KCMG Oreca 05 – Nissan 3m 39.436s LMP2 19. Barthez/Chatin/Buret FRA Panis Barthez Competition Ligier JS P2 - Nissan 3m 40.470s LMP2 20. Pu/Gommendy/De Bruun FRA Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 05 – Nissan 3m 40.631s LMP2 21. van der Garde/Dolan/Dennis RUS G-Drive Gibson Nissan 3m 40.685s LMP2 22. Gonzalez/Albuquerque/Senna MEX RGR Sport by Morand Ligier JS P2 – Nissan 3m 40.899s LMP2 23. Minassian/Mediani/Aleshin SMP Racing BR01 – Nissan 3m 41.132s LMP2 24. Taittinger/Striebig/Roussel FRA Pegasus Racing Morgan – Nissan 3m 41.285s LMP2 25. Sharp/vOverbeek/Brown USA ESM Ligier JS P2 Nissan 3m 41.406s LMP2 26. Petrov/Shaytar/Ladygin RUS SMP Racing BR01 – Nissan 3m 41.776s LMP2 27. Munemann/Hoy/Pizzitola POR Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JS P2 – Nissan 3m 42.088s LMP2 28. Rojas/Canal/Berthon GBR Greaves Motorsport Ligier JS P2 – Nissan 3m 42.570s LMP2 29. Keating/Bleekemolen/Goossens IRE Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03R – Nissan 3m 43.508s LMP2 30. Leutwiler/Nakano/Winslow/Koutsoumidis FRA Race Performance Oreca 03R– Judd 3m 43.590s LMP2 31. Capillaire/Coleman/Maris FRA SO24! By Lombard Racing Ligier JS P2 – Judd 3m 44.347s LMP2 32. Sausset/Tinseau/Bouvet FRA SRT41 by Oak Racing Morgan LMP2 – Nissan 3m 45.178s CDNT 33. Krohn/Jonsson/Barbosa USA Krohn Raacing Ligier JS P2 – Nissan 3m 45.213s LMP2 34. Hand/Muller/Bourdais USA Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA Ford GT 3m 51.185s GTE Pro 35. Briscoe/Westbrook/Dixon USA Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA Ford GT 3m 51.497s GTE Pro 36. Bruni/Calado/ Pier Guidi ITA AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE 3m 51.568s GTE Pro 37. Franchitti/Priaulx/Tincknell USA Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GT 3m 51.590s GTE Pro 38. Johnson/Mucke/Pla USA Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GT 3m 52.038s GTE Pro 39. Rigon/Bird/Bertolini ITA AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE 3m 52.508s GTE Pro 40. Fisichella/Vilander/Malucelli ITA Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE 3m 53.176s GTE Pro 41. Makowiecki/Bamber/Bergmeister GER Porsche Motorsport 911 RSR (2016) 3m 54.918s GTE Pro 42. Thiim/Sorensen/Turner GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 3m 55.261s GTE Pro 43. Pilet/Estre/Tandy GER Porsche Motorsport 911 RSR (2016) 3m 55.332s GTE Pro 44. Rees/Stanaway/Adam GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 3m 55.380s GTE Pro 45. Lietz/Christensen/Eng/Bachler GER Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR 3m 55.426s GTE Pro 46. Gavin/Milner/Taylor USA Corvette Racing – GM Corvette C7.R 3m 55.848s GTE Pro 47. Mok/Sawa/Bell FRA Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia 3m 56.827s GTE Am 48. Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 3m 57.198s GTE Am 49. Long/Heinemeier-Hansson/Al Qubaisi ABU Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche 911 RSR 3m 55.513s GTE Am 50. Cameron/Griffin/Scott ITA AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia 3m 57.596s GTE Am 51. Perrodo/Collard/Aguas ITA AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia 3m 57.742s GTE Am 52. Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor USA Corvette Racing – GM Corvette C7.R 3m 57.967s GTE Pro 53. Yamagishi/Ragues/Belloc/Catsburg FRA Larbre Competition Chevrolet C7-Z06 3m 58.018s GTE Am 54. Laursen/Mac/Nielsen ITA Formula Racing Ferrari 458 Italia 3m 58.760 GTE Am 55. Ried/Henzler/Camathias HKG KCMG Porsche 911 RSR 3m 59.245s GTE Am 56. Sweedler/Bell/Segal ITA Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia 4m 00.008s GTE Am 57. Macneil/Keen/Miller/Jeannette USA Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR 4m 00.107s GTE Am 58. Wainwright/Carroll/Barker GBR Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR 4m 01.046s GTE Am 59. O'Connell/Bryant/Patterson FRA Team AAI Chevrolet Corvette C7-Z06 4m 02.326s GTE Am 60. Howard/Griffin/Hirsch GBR Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage 4m 03.148s GTE Am