The #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi leads Le Mans after an hour, having pitted early to go off strategy and jumping other cars who pitted later.
Buemi does owe a stop, however, as a result of pitting early. He only took fuel, no tyres, as did the other Hypercars as they attempt to triple-stint the Michelins amid the hottest weather at Le Mans we’ve seen all week.
The #20 BMW of Rene Rast, who pitted around 4 laps later, is second. Rast started the car on pole and is now around 2 and a bit seconds behind Buemi.
He lost the lead temporarily on the lead lap to the #12 Cadillac of Will Stevens, but the German soon took it back down the Mulsanne.
Third of Ferdinand Habsburg in the #36 Alpine, while fourth is the #38 Cadillac of Will Stevens.
Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota is fifth, having pitted a lap early than Buemi to also go off strategy.
In LMP2, the #28 IDEC Sport of Job van Uitert is leading Le Mans, with the Dutchman having retained the lead after starting on pole. Second is Esteban Masson in the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca, around 6 seconds off van Uitert. Third is Julien Andlauer, the Porsche factory driver on loan to Duqueine, in the #30 Duqueine Oreca.
In LMGT3, Jack Hawksworth leads in the #78 ASP Lexus, from polesitting car Ian James in the #27 Aston Martin. Mattia Drudi started that car on pole and James, the bronze-rated driver is now in the car, fighting with gold-rated Hawksworth, with a 13 second gap between them. Third is Petru Umbraescu in the #78 ASP Lexus, less than a second away from James.
Discussion about this post