LE MANS 24H, HOUR 1: FERRARI, PORSCHE LOCKED IN TIGHT BATTLE AT THE START

Nielsen was running fractionally ahead of the #6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor after one hour of racing, but must serve a 10-second penalty at his next pitstop for an unsafe release.

The three Ferrari LMH cars made blistering starts as the 92nd running of Le Mans 24 Hours got away at 4pm local time, with Nicklas in the #50 car jumping from fourth to slot into second.

Nielsen then got a great run on the polesitting #6 Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor, getting the move done into Indianapolis to grab the lead of the race.

The #51 Ferrari started by former Formula 1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi initially dropped to fourth, but reeled in the #3 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais for second on lap two before reeling in Vanthoor two tours later to establish a 1-2 for the Prancing Horse behind Nielsen.

The two Ferraris were able to build a brief buffer in the first 30 minutes of the race, but the first of the Porsches and Cadillacs managed to close back in on them, with the leading four cars peeling into the pitlane right on the tail of each other.

The factory Penske pit crew managed to service the #6 Porsche in two fewer seconds, allowing Vanthoor to return to the track in the lead of the race. Nielsen was next in queue, but nearly ran into Bourdais’s Cadillac as he rejoined the fast lane.

In the next two laps, Nielsen was able to get back ahead of Vanthoor to take the lead of the race, but is likely to drop back down the order when he comes in to serve his penalty.

Third place is currently held by the sister factory #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, who served a 10-second stop/go penalty at the first pitstop due to an offence in qualifying, the Italian getting ahead of Bourdais in the second stint.

The #8 Toyota completed the top five with Sebastien Buemi at the wheel, while Charles Milesi was sixth in the best of the Alpine LMDh cars on the French manufacturer’s return to the top class.

An impressive launch from 12th on the grid helped Robert Kubica to move up to seventh in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, which also was sanctioned in qualifying like the factory #51 car.

Start action

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

The first Hypercar manufacturer to suffer a setback was BMW after Marco Wittmann spun the #15 BMW M Hybrid at the esses while running in seventh position, lightly hitting the barriers.

It forced the two-time DTM champion to make an early pitstop, leaving him firmly at the bottom of the Hypercar order.

The #99 Proton Porsche started by 2016 Le Mans winner Neel Jani was wheeled back into the garage after just 45 minutes on the clock.

The #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid that started from the rear of the class made little headways in the opening hour, with Nyck de Vries - who was involved in a collision with a Lexus GT3 car in warm-up, only climbing up to 16th place.

In LMP2, a rapid pitstop helped Bent Viscaal to take the lead in the #9 Proton ORECA 07 ahead of #65 Panis Racing entry of Mathis Beche and the #22 United Autosports car of Oliver Jarvis.

Polesitter Louis Deletraz had led comfortably in the first stint in the #14 AO by TF Oreca, but a change of driver in the pits meant PJ Hyett rejoined the field in the lower half of the top 10.

A brief slow zone was caused by gentleman driver Ben Keating when he beached his #23 United Autosports Oreca at the Dunlop Curve. He was able to continue after receiving external assistance in form of a crane.

The LMGT3 class continues to be led by Frederik Schandorff in the polesitting #70 Inception McLaren 720 GT3 despite a big challenge from Ben Barker in the #77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3.

Barker had started from fourth but made rapid gains in the early laps to grab second from Aliaksandr Malkyhin, whose #93 Manthey PureRXcing Porsche 911 GT3 continues to tumble down the order in the opening hour.

Larry Ten Voorde holds third in the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3.

Le Mans 24 Hours 2024, Hour 1 results

POS#STATUSCLASSTEAMCARLAPSGAPS  

1	50	RUN	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	16	-
2	6	RUN	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	16	0.423
3	3	RUN	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	16	2.558
4	51	RUN	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	16	3.095
5	8	RUN	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	16	3.617
6	35	RUN	Hypercar H	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	Alpine A424	16	4.017
7	83	RUN	Hypercar H	AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	16	4.914
8	36	RUN	Hypercar H	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	Alpine A424	16	6.593
9	5	RUN	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	16	10.496
10	38	RUN	Hypercar H	HERTZ TEAM JOTA	Porsche 963	16	11.602
11	311	RUN	Hypercar H	WHELEN CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	16	12.975
12	4	RUN	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	16	13.782
13	2	RUN	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	16	15.690
14	93	RUN	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Peugeot 9X8	16	16.762
15	12	RUN	Hypercar H	HERTZ TEAM JOTA	Porsche 963	16	17.102
16	94	RUN	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Peugeot 9X8	16	18.566
17	7	RUN	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	16	19.763
18	19	RUN	Hypercar H	LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX	Lamborghini SC63	16	20.550
19	63	RUN	Hypercar H	LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX	Lamborghini SC63	16	20.702
20	20	RUN	Hypercar H	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M HYBRID V8	16	21.039
21	11	RUN	Hypercar H	ISOTTA FRASCHINI	Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C	16	1:19.761
22	9	RUN	LM P2	PROTON COMPETITION	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	2:41.456
23	65	RUN	LM P2 P/A	PANIS RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	2:47.163
24	22	RUN	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	2:47.882
25	37	RUN	LM P2	COOL RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	2:48.176
26	28	RUN	LM P2	IDEC SPORT	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	2:51.746
27	15	RUN	Hypercar H	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M HYBRID V8	15	2:52.058
28	10	RUN	LM P2	VECTOR SPORT	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	2:53.457
29	24	RUN	LM P2	NIELSEN RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	3:10.628
30	34	RUN	LM P2	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	3:13.383
31	30	RUN	LM P2 P/A	DUQUEINE TEAM	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	3:30.510
32	14	RUN	LM P2 P/A	AO BY TF	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	3:34.007
33	183	RUN	LM P2 P/A	AF CORSE	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	5.996
34	45	RUN	LM P2 P/A	CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	34.926
35	33	RUN	LM P2 P/A	DKR ENGINEERING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	15	38.362
36	23	RUN	LM P2 P/A	UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA	Oreca 07 - Gibson	14	2 laps
37	99	RUN	Hypercar H	PROTON COMPETITION	Porsche 963	14	3:14.735
38	70	RUN	LMGT3	INCEPTION RACING	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	14	3:22.726
39	77	RUN	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	14	3:23.717
40	66	RUN	LMGT3	JMW MOTORSPORT	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	14	3:28.304
41	88	RUN	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	14	6.708
42	59	RUN	LMGT3	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	14	9.948
43	95	RUN	LMGT3	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	14	16.399
44	60	RUN	LMGT3	IRON LYNX	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2	14	17.918
45	46	RUN	LMGT3	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3	14	18.902
46	44	RUN	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	14	19.874
47	27	RUN	LMGT3	HEART OF RACING TEAM	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	14	23.801
48	87	RUN	LMGT3	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	Lexus RC F LMGT3	14	24.267
49	85	RUN	LMGT3	IRON DAMES	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2	14	26.177
50	55	RUN	LMGT3	VISTA AF CORSE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	14	26.719
51	92	RUN	LMGT3	MANTHEY PURERXCING	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	14	24.254
52	777	RUN	LMGT3	D'STATION RACING	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	14	44.998
53	91	RUN	LMGT3	MANTHEY EMA	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	14	46.361
54	86	RUN	LMGT3	GR RACING	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	14	48.665
55	31	RUN	LMGT3	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3	14	49.260
56	54	RUN	LMGT3	VISTA AF CORSE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	14	53.157
57	82	RUN	LMGT3	TF SPORT	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	14	55.305
58	155	RUN	LMGT3	SPIRIT OF RACE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	14	1:04.507
59	81	RUN	LMGT3	TF SPORT	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	14	1:06.852
60	25	RUN	LM P2	ALGARVE PRO RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	13	3 laps
61	78	RUN	LMGT3	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	Lexus RC F LMGT3	13	2:34.126
62	47	RUN	LM P2 P/A	COOL RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson

2024-06-15T15:21:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd