Earl Bamber inherited the lead in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R in an hour of racing that saw multiple incidents throughout the field.
At the top of the hour Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari 499P led Sebastian Bourdais in the #3 Cadillac V-Series.R. Both had pitted early in the first hour and undercut original leader Sebastian Buemi in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, who found himself 15 seconds behind NIelsen.
However, the overall lead changed several times as rivals pitted amidst multiple incidents. The first came courtesy of #14 Nielsen Racing LMP2 pro/am Oreca-07 Gibson of Rodrigo Sales with a heavy crash at Turn 1, causing a slow zone. Nielsen and Bourdais then pitted from the lead and moments later, the #13 Tower LMP2 of Ricky Taylor had a heavy incident at the start of the Mulsanne straight whilst trying to navigate traffic. Two more slow zones were employed and the two Toyotas of Buemi and Mike Conway elected to pit, handing the lead to the #51 Ferrari 499P of James Calado.
Shortly thereafter, Calado pitted to hand Earl Bamber and Cadillac the lead at Le Mans! However, the Cadillac squad’s joy was short-lived as the #3 car of Sebastian Bourdais was collected in an incident with Ulysse De Pauw in the #21 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and the #55 GMB Aston Martin of Gustav Birch at Dunlop. De Pauw rear ended the Cadillac, causing Bourdais to enter the garage for repairs. Three minutes later, Scott Dixon emerged and the #3 crew now find themselves 14th in Hypercar.
Second behind Bamber in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R is Michael Christensen, who is approximately five seconds off the lead in the #5 Porsche 963. Third is Felipe Nasr in the #75 Porsche. Fourth is Buemi in the #8 Toyota and the top five in Hypercar is rounded out by the #38 Hertz Team Jota of Antonio Felix Da Costa.
Robert Kubica leads in LMP2 in the #41 Team WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, seven and a half seconds ahead of Charles Milesi in the #36 Alpine. Third in the LMP2 class is taken up by the #28 Jota of Pietro Fittipaldi.
It’s a Porsche 1-2-3 in GTE-Am, led with an 18 second margin by the #56 Project 1-AO of Matteo Cairoli. The second Porsche belongs to Benjamin Barker in the GR Racing #86 machine, ahead of Rahel Frey in the fan-favourite #85 Iron Dames machine.
As the slow zones continue to be employed, drivers will continue to negotiate a balance between high speed racing and navigating the caution controlled sectors.
