Julien Andlauer led Le Mans for Porsche with an hour gone, from the polesitting #12 JOTA Cadillac and the sister #38 Cadillac, also run by JOTA.
The race started with Will Stevens on pole in the #12 JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R. But, the Briton didn’t lead for long: the #5 Porsche 963 of Julien Andlauer took the lead on the first half of the first lap.
Andlauer soon began to extend his lead over Stevens. The Frenchman’s gap was up to two seconds after only the first lap, where it stabilised.
Stevens and Earl Bamber, meanwhile, continued to run second and third in the #12 Cadillac and the sister car, the #38. Bamber fought off Felipe Nasr in the #4 Porsche at one point, but until they pitted on lap 11, the two British-run American cars were running second and third.
Stevens and Bamber duly pitted on lap 11 for fuel only. This promoted Nasr to second and Nicklas Nielsen to third in the #50 Ferrari.
The following lap, Andlauer duly pitted, along with the majority of the field behind. The exceptions were Nasr, who led now, Phil Hanson in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, and Loic Duval in the #94 Peugeot 9X8, which was running near last before the stops.
Nasr pitted from the lead the next lap, as did Hanson and Duval. Porsche changed the right-side only tyres on Nasr’s car, whereas most cars only took fuel.
Midfield battles run in Hypercar
This re-promoted Andlauer to the lead with Stevens second, Bamber third and Nielsen fourth. Kevin Estre, who had started last in the #6 Porsche, was now running fifth after an incredible run in the first stint to get into seventh.
Jack Aitken lies sixth in the #311 Action Express Cadillac, with Rene Rast in the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 seventh. His BMW teammate Kevin Magnussen in the sister #15 BMW lies eighth.
In LMP2, Tom Dillmann leads in the #43 Inter Europol Oreca 07-Gibson. Mathias Beche started on pole in the #29 TDS Racing Oreca but is now out of the car, with bronze-rated Rodrigo Sales now in the car and running ninth in class.
Second is Job van Uitert in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca, four and a bit seconds behind Dillmann. Third is Patrick Pilet in the #16 RLR M Sport Oreca, a further 2.5 seconds behind.
Jack Hawksworth leads the LMGT3 class in the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3. The Briton started eighth but moved towards the front in the first stint of the race, to take the lead after the GT3 pitstops mid-way into the first hour.
Second is Valentin Hasse Clot in the #10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, 6.6 seconds behind Hawksworth. Third is Kelvin van der Linde in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3, just a tenth or so off Hasse Clot.
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