The 83rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is underway and at the first hour mark the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brandon Hartley lead the way over the #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid and the #8 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro of Loic Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis.
The story on the mark of the hour though is an engine failure followed by a fire on the #92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR with Patrick Pilet on board at the Forza chicane, the resulting oil on track would see the #13 Rebellion Racing R-One – AER piloted by Alexandre Imperatori spin in to the gravel bringing out a safety car situation as the race entered a full-course yellow period.
Prior to the race start it was announce that the #23 Nissan GT-R LM Nismo of Oliver Pla, Jann Mardenborough and Max Chilton would start from the pitlane due to clutch problems, at the end of hour 1 they were 7 laps down.
The LMP2 field has seen some great battles already and is currently lead by the #46 Thirlet by TDS Racing Oreca 05 – Nissan of Tristian Gommendy, Ludovic Badey and Pierre Thiriet. Class pole-sitters in the #47 KCMG Oreca 05 – Nissan remain in second place followed by the #26 G-Drive Ligier JS P2 – Nissan.
Credit: Aston Martin Racing
In the LM GTE Pro class it is all about Aston Martin at the front with the #95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Nicki Thiim, Christoffer Nygaard and Marco Sorensen as the clock passed the hour mark but the early stages of the hour saw a lead change three times. In second place the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia sat comfortably in front of the #97 Aston Martin Vantage V8.
The LM GTE Am class sees the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia head up the #98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 and the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia.
Top 3 positions after Hour 1 of the 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans
LMP1
- #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid – Webber/Hartley/Bernhard
- #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid – Jani/Lieb/Dumas
- #8 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro – Duval/di Grassi/Jarvis
LMP2
- #46 Thirlet by TDS Racing Oreca 05 -Nissan – Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy
- #47 KCMG Oreca 05 – Nissan – Howson/Lapierre/Bradley
- #26 G-Drive Ligier JS P2 – Nissan – Rusinov/Canal/Bird
LM GTE Pro
- #95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 – Sorensen/Thiim/Nygaard
- #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia – Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella
- #97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 – Turner/Mucke/Bell
LM GTE Am
- #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia – Shaitar/Bertolini/Basov
- #98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 – Lamy/Lauda/Dalla Lana
- #55 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia – Cameron/Griffin/Mortimer
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