Mark Webber upbeat for Le Mans

Former F1 winner Mark Webber was relaxed and upbeat before heading into the 83rd running of the world's most prestigious sports car race -- the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hour this wekend in France.

It's understandable. Porsche locked out the front row during qualifying, with Webber's 919 Hybrid snagging second spot. Neel Jani's time of 3:16.887 in the #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid snagged pole position, a record lap since the chicanes were introduced on the Mulsanne straight.

Although Webber is yet to finish a Le Mans 24 Hour race, his Porsche 919 Hybrid petering out 22 hours into the 2014 event (and his Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR racer spectacularly flipping back in 1999 due to an aerodynamic issue) the New South Welshman told motoring.com.au trackside that he's looking forward to racing.

"I'm a lot more experienced around this place," he said of the intimidating 13.6km Circuit de la Sarthe, located in the French town of Le Mans.

"The experience is certainly building up and I'm more relaxed on a personal front," he added.

But even with the Porsches looking strong, he cautioned that the 24-hour race is unlike any other.

"The race is still a monumental effort, the distance is daunting for all of us. Whoever it is, there's no driver on the line who says 'we're gonna blow this thing apart'. It's tough," he intoned.

Webber quipped that compared to his fellow drivers he shares the car with, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, he's the quickest in and out of the car.

"I don't need a booster seat like the other two," he said, his taller stature making the difference.

Webber observed that drivers could spend between two and three hours per stint in the car, depending on the conditions and tyre wear, and little sleep will be had between when adrenaline takes over.

"Timo [Bernhard] will start, Brendon [Hartley] second, I'm third. Fuel alone is a bit under 30 seconds [pit stop] and the driver will stay with the set of tyres with fuel-ups. It could be three hours per stint, or two hours. We don't know yet," he said.

Asked about his chance to win the race, which finishes at 11:00pm Sunday night Australian time, and getting the metaphorical monkey off his back, he was matter-of-fact.

"It takes one thing [to lose]. There's landmines everywhere in this race. There's been some amazing stories of people coming through with incredible luck, and tough stories too. I hope this is the first year I can finish a race," he said

"I haven't had a finish here yet, so it shows you how hard it is just to get to the finish. But we have an incredibly quick car," he added.

"The goals are clear, it's outright victory. It would be a phenomenal effort for a team returned for only its second year. But we've got a tough neighbour in Audi, a well-oiled machine."

Indeed, Audi has won 13 of the last 15 Le Mans 24 Hour races, and all three of its R18 e-tron race cars sit right behind the Porsches in fourth, fifth and sixth spot. Toyotas are in seventh and eighth.

But it's not just his rivals that he has to consider. His car will reach speeds of up to 340km/h, the 1000hp all-wheel drive Porsche 919 race car requiring constant focus.

"These speeds are the highest speeds we've seen since 1989. [Hans] Stuck was doing 400km/h on the straight. Top speed now is 340km/h. But that's five times in a lap."

As for his feelings about leaving F1 and coming back to sports car racing -- a gruelling test of driver's mental and physical strength, not to mention the mechanical reliability of race cars -- Webber doesn't mince words.

"At 39 years old it's sports cars, at 25 it was F1," he says, noting that his timing with leaving F1 was serendipitous.

"I was the luckiest guy alive with jammy timing. When Porsche rings up, bloody hell, to see if I'm interested? These cars are super rewarding to drive, bloody quick, as it was five or six years ago in F1 -- very rewarding to drive."

And the best part?

"I'm not pulling my hair our trying to save tyres anymore!"