Toyota No. 7 led the field from pole position after a long pace lap and stayed ahead for the first hour of the 88th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, round 7 of FIA WEC Season 8.
Bruno Senna kept the second place in the Rebellion after fending off a feisty attack from Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi.
Here is the overview after the first hour of track action at Circuit de la Sarthe:
LMP1 – Toyota chased by Rebellion duo
- LMP1 category is led by pole-sitting No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid with Mike Conway at the wheel
- Second and third place occupied by Rebellion Racing No. 1 and 3 Rebellion R13 Gibson cars after a relatively trouble-free opening hour for the Swiss team
- No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing car fourth, the car losing time with a rear-left puncture towards the end of the first hour
- ByKolles Racing rounding out the top five
LMGTE Pro – Aston Martin looking strong
- No. 97 and No. 95 Aston Martin Racing entries currently first and third in LMGTE Pro
- No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo splitting the Aston Martin Vantage AMR cars with Miguelo Molina holding second after 60 minutes of racing
- Porsche GT Team currently sixth and seventh
LMP2 – United Autoports lead from pole
- Pole-sitters No. 22 United Autosports leads the 24 LMP2 crews with Filipe Albuquerque currently driving the ORECA 07 Gibson
- No. 33 High-Class Racing second after strong opening hour with Kenta Yamashita at the wheel
- Third out of the WEC entrants (and sixth overall) is JOTA on Goodyear tyres
- No. 29 Racing Team Nederland car lost time after it was forced to enter the pits with an over-heating engine
- No. 36 Signatech Alpine Elf entry forced to pit in opening laps due to loss of water pressure but now back on track and climbing the leaderboard
LMGTE Am: Aston Martin one-two
- Ross Gunn leads the LMGTE Am category at the wheel of the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage
- TF Sport holds second position with Charlie Eastwood in another Aston Martin
- Currently third is Team Project 1 in the Porsche 911 RSR
- Drama after 40 minutes as No. 61 spun, making contract with No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR causing it to go off the track
- No. 70 MR Racing dropped down the leaderboard with gearbox issues