Porsche->ke1 Team has secured the first three positions on the grid for the 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend. In the process, the No. 18 car driven by Neel Jani has set a new qualifying record for the current track configuration, smashing a record that stood for six years. Jani stopped the clock at 3:16.887 minutes, beating Peugeot's->ke68 pole position time from 2008 by nearly two seconds. The previous record stood at 3:18.513 minutes.

The all-time Le Mans->ke1591 record, also set during qualifying, still stands at 3:13.90 minutes, as set by Pedro Rodriguez in a Porsche 917 in 1971. However, this benchmark was achieved when the track didn't have two chicanes on the Mulsanne straight.

Porsche's pole for this year's race is the 17th for the company at Le Mans, but the first one in 18 years. Furthermore, it is the ninth time that three Porsches have scored a one-two-three on the grid and the first time since 1988.

"This great qualifying result is an important first part in our success. But looking forward to the race it is even more important that today we had a productive day of preparation. We have had consistently dry track conditions and went through our tire program as planned. The team and the drivers have done a top job," said Team Principal Andreas Seidl.

The green flag for the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans drops Saturday, June 13th, at 8 AM EST. You can check out the full car-spotter guide here.

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Why it matters

Needless to say, this is a fantastic achievement for Porsche in only its second year at Le Mans in nearly two decades. Jani's pole position time is a whopping six-second improvement over Porsche's best result in 2014, which speaks volumes about the advancements the company has made for this year's race. The 919 Hybrid->ke4873 is definitely the quickest car around Circuit de la Sarthe and the main favorite to take the trophy home. Of course, reliability will play a key role once the flag goes green, but on paper, Porsche has everything it takes to defeat Audi->ke14 and Toyota->ke88 in this year's Le Mans.

2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid

Find out more about the Porsche 919 Hybrid race car->ke148 in our detailed review here.