Ferrari is leading at Le Mans after one hour of racing, with Nicklas Nielsen taking the first position in the Ferrari 499P #50. Laurens Vanthoor started the race in pole position in the Porsche 963 #6, but lost the lead early on. Sebastien Bourdais, in the Cadillac V-Series.R #2, dropped to third place when Nielsen overtook him. Nielsen then passed Vanthoor at the Porsche Curves, giving Ferrari the lead on the first lap. Antonio Giovinazzi, Nielsen’s teammate in the Ferrari #51, moved up to second place, creating a Ferrari one-two. However, Vanthoor regained the lead during the pit stops. Giovinazzi received a penalty, dropping to fifth place behind Buemi from Toyota. Nielsen eventually overtook Vanthoor again to regain the lead, but he may face a penalty for an incident with Bourdais during the pit stops. Giovinazzi passed Buemi and is now chasing Bourdais for third place. Charles Milesi is in sixth place in the Alpine A424 #35, while Robert Kubica is in seventh place in the Ferrari 83 AF Corse. Nico Lapierre, Milesi’s teammate, is in eighth place in the Alpine #36.
In the LMP2 category, Bent Viscaal is leading in the Proton Competition’s Oreca 07-Gibson #9. Mathias Beche is in second place in the Panis Racing’s Oreca 07-Gibson #65, followed by Oliver Jarvis in the United Autosports’ Oreca 07-Gibson #22. Ben Keating spun in the United Autosports’ car #23 at the Dunlop chicane and is now in last place in LMP2.
Frederik Schandorff is leading in the LMGT3 category in the Inception Racing’s McLaren 720S GT3 #70. Ben Barker is in second place in the Proton’s Ford Mustang GT3 #77, while Larry Ten Voorde is in third place in the JMW Motorsport’s Ferrari 296 GT3 #66.
