Porsche finished one second ahead of LMP1 rival Toyota during the second practice session for round four of the World Endurance Championship at the Nurburgring.
An early 1:38.663s marker from Brendon Hartley put the championship-leading 919 Hybrid 1.110 seconds up on the nearest TS050, driven by Anthony Davidson.
It marked a drastic improvement to times set previously at the 3.2 mile GP Strecke, with the leading Porsche going three seconds quicker than it did during the morning and one second faster than last year's qualifying average.
Porsche ended Friday practice with the two quickest cars, as Andre Lotterer backed Hartley's time up with a 1:39.629 that dipped slightly under Davidson's attempt.
All the top numbers were posted in the 90-minute afternoon session, which started under clear skies but ended with light rain around the circuit.
The Friday result marked the first time Porsche has led a practice session for a six-hour WEC race this year, after Toyota dominated at Silverstone and Spa.
The German manufacturer is running its brand-new high-downforce aero configuration – designed to improve cornering speeds – for the first time this weekend.
Toyota debuted its high-drag setup at Silverstone, with Porsche deciding to delay rolling out its bodywork until after Le Mans to maximise its development time.
RESULT: 6 Hours of the Nurburgring FP1
RESULT: 6 Hours of the Nurburgring FP2
Friday's fastest lap in LMP2 came courtesy of Ben Hanley, driving the G-Drive backed ORECA-Gibson run by TDS Racing.
Hanley is guesting at G-Drive Racing following a late call-up to replace team regular Alex Lynn, who is contesting the New York Formula E round this weekend.
The Brit reeled off a time of 1:47.188s to put the G-Drive car three tenths up on Mathias Beche in the #13 Rebellion ORECA, with the pair of Signatech Alpine A470s sitting third and fourth.
In GTE-Pro, four different manufacturers occupied the top four places with Fred Makowiecki leading the way for Porsche.
Driving the #91 911 RSR, the Frenchman clocked in a 1:56.244 effort, which edged out Nicki Thiim's #97 Aston Martin by just under a tenth.
A further four tenths down was Alessandro Pier Guidi in the best of the Ferraris, followed by Stefan Muecke's Ford GT.
Friday bragging rights in GTE-Am went the way of Miguel Molina, who is back with the Spirit of Race Ferrari squad following an outing with the Italian manufacturer's factory Pro team at Le Mans last month.
The former DTM star posted a time of 1:57.592s, which was enough to place him comfortably within the Pro-class mid-pack.
Two-driver qualifying for the 6 Hours of the Nurburgring is set to take place tomorrow (Saturday, July 15th) at 14:55 local time (13:55 UK).
Discussion about this post