LM24 1 Hour Report: Toyota leads Ferrari after dramatic opening hour
Photo: WEC
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LM24 1 Hour Report: Toyota leads Ferrari after dramatic opening hour

Below are the main headlines from a dramatic first hour of Le Mans, round four of FIA WEC, which saw a safety car and plenty of door-to-door action

Hypercar

  • Toyota Gazoo Racing snatches lead from Ferrari AF Corse in action-packed first hour at Le Mans. 
  • Sebastien Buemi takes lead at end of first lap in No.8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar 
  • Mike Conway in sister Toyota follows him through for Japanese giant to run 1-2 until just before the hour mark. 
  • Buemi though reports difficulty with fly-by-wire throttle and slight loss of charge. 
  • Safety car comes out at end of first lap after Jack Aitken crashes the Action Express Cadillac heavily exiting first Mulsanne Chicane. 
  • Aitken manages to get car back to pits as US team begin lengthy repair process. 
  • Ferrari AF Corse placed third and fourth with No.50 (Nicklas Nielsen) heading No.51 (James Calado). 
  • Nielsen overtakes Conway for second place but then immediately makes first pit-stop as Ferrari choose surprising off-set strategy with fuel only stop. 
  • Calado then overtakes Conway to take second position. 
  • Leading Porsche is the No.75 Porsche 963 started by Felipe Nasr which runs fourth. 
  • The two other Porsche Penske entries run behind Nasr with Laurens Vanthoor in No.6 963 and Michael Christensen in the No.5 car. 
  • No.2 Cadillac places seventh with two-time winner Earl Bamber at wheel of blue V Series.R Hypercar. 
  • Peugeot TotalEnergies run in eighth and ninth places ahead of the Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 which comes through from rear of grid as Antonio Felix da Costa takes advantage of safety car scenario. 
  • No.709 Glickenhaus Racing car with Franck Mailleux aboard is the leading non-Hybrid Hypercar in 11 th
  • Sister Glickenhaus entry begins race late after a gearbox leak is found after morning warm-up session. 

LMP2

  • Paul Loup-Chatin converts pole position in to early lead in Idec Sport Oreca-Gibson. 
  • Chatin leads the No.41 WRT entry driven by Robert Kubica. 
  • No.47 Cool Racing ELMS incoming is third with Reshad de Gerus at the wheel. 
  • No.32 Inter Europol Competition car spins in to gravel on first lap but Mark Kvamme is able to re-join the fray. 

LMGTE AM 

  • Davide Rigon wrests lead from pole sitting No.33 Corvette Racing driven by Nicky Catsburg from the start. 
  • No.56 Project 1 AO Racing 'Rexy' Porsche 911 RSR-19 places second with Matteo Cairoli aboard. 
  • No.60 Iron Lynx Ferrari is third as Alessio Picariello applies pressure in close battle for LMGTE Am honors. 

INNOVATION  

  • The Hendrick Motorsports run Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ends places 37 th  overall as Mike Rockenfeller starts the race in crowd favorite NASCAR. 

Click  HERE  for session results.