Tom Blomqvist leads Petit Le Mans with just over two hours of the race gone, with the Acura Meyer Shank Racing driver having led the race from pole.
Blomqvist, in the #60 MSR Acura, is ahead of Jack Aitken, in the #31 Action Express Cadillac, who started second. Third is Kevin Magnussen in the #24 BMW.
The race is was, until a few minutes ago as of publishing this, under its fourth full course yellow, after a tyre from a GTD-entered car went flying through the esses, with driver Lin Hodenius later stopping on track through the esses, causing the full course yellow.
Speaking of the esses, lap 1 saw a large multi-car crash, also amongst the GTD cars. Manny Franco, in the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari, spun and was impacted by multiple cars, causing a large pie up involving six cars in total. In particular, the #70 Inception Ferrari, of Brendan Iribe, impacted Franco’s Ferrari head on, putting both out on the spot.
Chaos on lap 1
This obviously caused the first FCY of the race. In the short amount of green flag running, Blomqvist had managed to retain the lead, from Aitken and Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche 963.
The second FCY came shortly after the restart, with debris on track. Most cars pitted under yellow here, although notably the GTP leaders Blomqvist and Aitken didn’t, putting them a different strategy compared to their competition.
The third FCY was to rescue a sponsor hoarding board which had been knocked loose by an LMP2 car and was stranded on track. The LMP2 car, driven by Raveen Nao in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Oreca, continued mostly unaffected.
So, under the latest yellow, Blomqvist leads from Aitken. The two have been battling together for the lead since the start, never more than a second or so apart. Third is Magnussen, who pitted moments before the third FCY.
Fourth is IMSA debutant Max Esterson in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche, who like Magnussen pitted moments before the third FCY was called. Fifth is Ross Gunn in the #23 THOR Aston Martin Valkyrie. Nasr sits sixth.
Clarke, Heinrich, Mann lead LMP2, GTD Pro, and GTD
Much like in GTP, Jeremy Clarke has led from pole in the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca. Second is Nick Boulle in the #22 United Autosports Oreca, while third is PJ Hyett, onboard the #99 AO Racing Oreca.
Lauren Heinrich leads in GTD Pro, driving the #77 AO Racing Porsche, decked out for this race in a skeletal livery rather than “Rexy’s” regular green dinosaur livery. Second is Connor de Phillippi in the #48 Paul Miller BMW. His teammate Dan Harper started the car from pole but, due to strategy, is second currently. Third is the sister Paul Miller BMW, the #1 car, with Neil Verhagen at the wheel.
Finally, in GTD, Simon Mann leads in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari. Second is Kenton Koch in the #021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, while third is Russell Ward in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes.
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