The Porsche RS Spyder will start its first assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours from pole position in the LMP2 class after Jos Verstappen posted the quickest time in qualifying for the French classic.

Having been second in class after the first day of qualifying, the Dutch former F1 racer was one of the drivers who elected to chase a quick lap and he improved his time in the van Merksteijn Motorsport car from 3m 34.078s overnight by almost two seconds to get ahead of the similar car of Team Essex.

"The car became faster lap by lap," Verstappen said having posted a time of 3m 32.301s to qualify 14th overall, "and I was able to get more and more familiar with the track. I'm sure I could have driven a bit faster but I was held up twice during my flying lap."

The Team Essex car failed to improve on its qualifying time during the second day with Sascha Maassen's time from Wednesday of 3m 33.441s being bettered only by Verstappen in the final two qualifying sessions ahead of the race.

Having been happy with the time posted on Wednesday, the team elected instead to spend Thursday finding the ideal set-up for the race.

"It is huge fun to drive on such a demanding circuit with a sports prototype," Maassen, who has been involved with the RS Spyder since is inception, said. "Particularly in the fast passages of the Porsche Curves, you can feel how balanced our car is. You approach them at around 290 kph, brake to 230 to take the curves in fifth gear. The RS Spyder handles beautifully there."