A lone Scot will proudly fly the Saltire when today's 83rd running of the Le Mans 24-Hours roars into action.

And Ryan Dalziel - who won the LMP2 class in 2012, the same year he was crowned FIA LMP2 World Champion - is hoping lightning strikes twice.

Three years ago his Starwork's LMP2 car made its Le Mans debut, and stunned the opposition by winning on its first appearance in the race. Today, the 33-year-old from Wishaw will debut his new Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier at the 8.45-mile French circuit.

Dalziel though, now based in Florida, and with a pleasing mid-Atlantic accent, is fully aware of the hurdles his ESM team face over the 24-hours.

To put the challenges into perspective, his team only took delivery of their two new 2.8-litre V6 turbocharged Ligiers just five days before the last WEC round at Spa-Francorchamps last month.

"Naturally that wasn't ideal," the Scot explained, "and it meant we ended up shaking them down in the rain, setting the cars up in the rain, then learning all about them in the race in the dry!"

Now the team is at Le Mans, and they're having to learn all over again. To compound the challenge, four of the team's six drivers are making their Le Mans debut, as are a number of crew members. Dalziel though isn't daunted.

"There are a lot of people within the team who know how to win big races like this," he emphasised, "including a few guys who worked with me on the Starworks car back in 2012.

"But's it's still a learning curve for me too. It's like everything else: you get something new and you've got to figure out where the buttons are. And that's what I'm doing at 340km/h down the Mulsanne Straight.

"We also have a completely different aero kit here, because we need low downforce, so essentially we're having to start again from scratch.

"Pace-wise we're not too far away from where we want to be, but you don't win the race in qualifying.

"That said, qualifying for me was a bit of a disaster simply because of traffic. We went out, tried to find a gap, and instead I found myself in the middle of the slower GT traffic. But we're not too far off."

The reality is, qualifying times mean very little at Le Mans. It's how the team, car and drivers - Dalziel is partnered by former IndyCar racer, American Scott Sharp, and Dane David Heinemeier Hansson (correct, Heinemeier Hansson) - cope with the physical demands of 24 hours almost flat-out.

Dalziel isn't concerned about his car being 14th in class, four-seconds off pole.

"The year I won this, we were definitely not the quickest car, but we had a good race. Our focus this week has been working on the race set-up," he stated.

"If we can get to the end, we'll have achieved our first goal. Being on the podium would be a bonus: in fact it would feel like a win. But, I'd love to win the Le Mans 24-Hours again. For me, and the team, that's the dream.

In the lead LMP1 class, Porsche locked out the front three positions on the grid, with the No18 car of Neel Jani (correct, Neel Jani) starting from pole after clocking 3mins 16.887secs, the fastest-ever pole time.

Aussie Mark Webber, in the No17 petrol-hybrid Porsche, lines up alongside on the front row, with team-mate and Formula One racer Nico Hulkenberg's Porsche third.

Ominously though, the trio of Audi R18 e-tron quattros - Audi has won 13 of the last 15 Le Mans, and the last five in a row - fill the next three places on the 56-car grid.