Conway leads after chaotic opening hour at Le Mans

Mike Conway holds the lead at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a frantic opening hour that saw early contact between Olivier Pla and Sebasten Buemi.

The 89th edition of the French endurance classic got started behind the safety car due to heavy rainfall prior to the green flag.

Once the race got started, there was immediate drama when the #708 Glickenhaus in the hands of Olivier Pla tagged the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi into a spin.

Pla suffered nose damage and was given a ten second penalty for the incident. Later, Nicolas Lapierre also spun in the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson at Indianapolis.

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Conway now leads overall, with the #38 JOTA ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Antonio Felix da Costa second overall and leading in LMP2.

The #8 Toyota of Buemi sits third, ahead of Nyck de Vries’ #26 Aurus 01-Gibson in second place in LMP2.. Lapierre has cycled to fifth following his first stop after briefly leading, with the #709 Glickenhaus in the hands of Richard Westbrook in sixth overall.

Further down in LMP2, Racing Team Nederland sits third in class with the #29 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Giedo van der Garde.

In GTE Pro, Corvette leads Ferrari after the Porsches fell away in the opening hour. The #72 HubAuto Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Maxime Martin started from pole but spun on the opening lap, while the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre also spun.

The two Corvettes took advantage and led the race one-two early on, before falling victim to the AF Corse Ferraris as the track dried. A well-timed stop for slicks for the #64 Corvette C8.R of Tommy Milner handed it back the advantage, however.

Milner now leads from the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Miguel Molina, with the #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Laurens Vanthoor in third place in class.

Gianmaria Bruni is fourth in the #91 Porsche, with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado fifth.

AF Corse leads GTE Am with the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Nicklas Nielsen out front, ahead of the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Julien Andlauer in second place.