Peugeot dominated the first two qualifying sessions ahead of this year's Le Mans 24 Hours.

On home soil, the French marque provisionally occupied the top three grid places, spearheaded by Stephane Sarrazin, Pedro Lamy and Alex Wurz.

It was Sarrazin who set the fastest time with a remarkable lap of three minutes 18.513 seconds around the 8.47-mile circuit - nearly nine seconds faster than Allan McNish's 2007 lap record.

The Scot, along with co-drivers Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen, are currently fourth in their Audi R10 TDi ahead of tonight's final four-hour qualifying run, split into two sessions.

McNish, who clocked a lap of 3:24.105, was left stunned by the pace of the Peugeots.

"It was the same picture we've had in the Le Mans Series this season where Peugeot are faster over one lap," said the 38-year-old.

"But I have to congratulate them with that mighty impressive lap time.

"It was clear we could not fight them in qualifying, so we focused very much on race set-up during the sessions.

"In race trim, we'll be much closer to our qualifying pace which is the norm for us in LMS this season."

Audi have won the race for the last four years, and seven out of the last eight, but their run is under serious threat this year.

Franck Montagny, Ricardo Zonta and Christian Klien were second in their Peugeot 908, followed by Jacques Villeneuve, Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian.

Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner, who have won the race for the last two years, set the sixth fastest time.

More news from SportingLife.com