The #98 Toyota TS050 driven by Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi qualified in third place with a fastest lap of 3:20:737. The sister car, in which Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima share driving duties, came fourth with 3:21:903. These times place them just behind the two Porsche 919 Hybrids and in front of the Audi R18s.

At the traditional press conference at lunchtime today, some of the main players on the team talked about the qualifying results and their ambitions for the race.

Rob Leupen, Team Director said: "We had a pretty tough season last year. With this new car, but we are back much stronger this year. The team did a good job during free practice and the qualifiers. We are not here to sit back and wait for our rivals to make mistakes – we are here to launch our own attack."

Anthony Davidson, driver of the #5 Toyota TS050: "The difficulties we encountered last year hit the team hard but encouraged us to work harder to get back on track. We saw how competitive we were at Spa. We were able to fight it out with Porsche and clocked up some good times on certain portions of the circuit. We know that we can win here in Le Mans."

Sébastien Buemi, driver of the #5 Toyota TS050: "Starting from third or fourth on the grid doesn’t matter. The times we achieved during qualifying didn’t come as a surprise. We could have reached 3:19 but at Le Mans, it’s very hard to do a clear lap, without any traffic. That will be a real concern in the race. If you want to go fast, you have to take a lot of risks and it’s down to us, the drivers, to weigh up those risks. In the race, we’ll be doing 14 laps between refuelling stops. Earlier in the week, we did another endurance bench test – equivalent to 10,000 km – to confirm the engine’s reliability."

Stéphane Sarrazin, driver of the #6 Toyota TS050: "We have got a good car with a great set-up. We have to be confident about the race. My teammates and I are confident, and we’re excited. Winning Le Mans would be fantastic, as you can well imagine! In 2014, we knew we could finish the race. In 2015, we have a few issues, but this year we’ve got the car we need to make it."

Pascal Vasselon, Technical Director: "We weren’t expecting our times to be so close to the Porsche’s, but we are competitive, whatever the weather. For the moment, we’re on target with our plans. For the race, we have high hopes – we’ve got a car capable of winning this year."

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Photo: The Toyota TS050 Hybrids fielded by Toyota Gazoo Racing have qualified third and fourth.