Mike Conway leads a Toyota one-two in the early stages of the Eight Hours of Bahrain after Alpine briefly took the lead at the start.
The #36 Alpine A480-Gibson, driven by Nicolas Lapierre, surprised both Toyotas at the star and took the lead of the race.
It was only brief, however, as first Conway took back the lead in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid and Sebastien Buemi followed suit and moved into second place in the #8 Toyota a few laps later.
In LMP2, Giedo van der Garde leads after a strong start in the #29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA 07-Gibson. The Dutchman is being hunted by the #31 Team WRT ORECA of Ferdinand Habsburg, who is on a charge in the early exchanges.
Habsburg demoted the #22 United Autosports ORECA of Phil Hanson to third with a pass at turn one, while Loic Duval holds fourth for Realteam Racing.
GTE Pro has so far seen considerably closer racing than last weekend’s race. Kevin Estre leads in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 after an early scrap with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of James Calado.
Calado had taken the lead but was ordered to give it back after leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Calado now sits in second, with Gianmaria Bruni third in the #91 Porsche ahead of the #52 Ferrari of Daniel Serra.
Roberto Lacorte leads GTE Am from pole in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, but is being caught by the #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Tomonobu Fujii.
Francesco Castellacci sits in third in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, with Khaled al Qubaisi fourth for Dempsey-Proton Racing.
The title battle in GTE Am has seen early drama as Ben Keating, second in the standings in the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR, suffered a puncture on the opening lap and has dropped to the bottom of the class.
