Every seat was sold, but none of the capacity crowd of hundreds of thousands were standing. A field of 62 cars roared into life, Tennis legend Roger Federer waved the tricolor flag, and the two gold Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.Rs led the field to the start of the 93rd annual 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For only a few seconds. Julien Andlauer wasted no time seizing the initiative in his #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 from third on the grid. He whipped his way past the #38 Cadillac of Earl Bamber exiting the Dunlop Chicane to pursue the #12 Cadillac of pole starter Will Stevens.
Using the slipstream and the power of his Porsche’s V8 engine and battery hybrid, Andlauer got past Stevens down into the first Mulsanne Chicane and drove away to a lead which he still holds at the end of the first hour, 4.7 seconds ahead of the two Cadillacs, then the #50 Ferrari 499P of Nicklas Nielsen.
Another Porsche which has rocketed towards the front is the #6 of Kevin Estre. Estre had to start 21st and last of all the Hypercars, but within half an hour he was up into seventh place through some measured, aggressive driving – even setting the fastest lap of the race at 3:28.135. After the first round of pit stops, he’s now fifth ahead of the #311 Whelen Cadillac, then the #20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8, #51 Ferrari, #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID and #15 WRT BMW.
The first major drama of the race came just before the hour when the #93 Peugeot Total Energies 9X8 of Paul di Resta went off at the Porsche Curves and smacked the tyre wall. Di Resta was trying to negotiate slower GT traffic when he felt the car snap and couldn’t keep it on the road. Di Resta drove the car back to the pits for a front and rear bodywork change
In LMP2, Tom Dillmann has taken the lead in the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07-Gibson from the pole-sitting #29 TDS Racing car. Mathias Beche led his first stint from start to finish, but the car is now in the hands of Bronze driver Rodrigo Sales, who is trying to clear some of his minimum driving time.
Job van Uitert runs second in the #28 IDEC Sport car, followed by Patrick Pilet in the #16 RLR MSport, Bent Viscaal in the #11 Proton, and Esteban Masson in the #48 VDS Panis Racing.
A cross-class collision between the #22 United ORECA of David Heinemeier Hansson and the #193 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari LMGT3 of Chris Froggatt spun both cars around at the Dunlop chicane, but they were able to continue trouble-free afterwards, so far.
In LMGT3, it’s the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 of Jack Hawksworth that leads at the end of the hour, from the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 of Kelvin van der Linde.
The #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin, #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang, and the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin round out the top five.
Like LMP2, the pole-sitting car led its first stint, but at the first round of routine stops, Mattia Drudi handed the controls of the #27 Vantage LMGT3 to Bronze co-driver Ian James, who has minimum drive time obligations of his own.
Images: dailysportscar.com
