LM24 H1: Audi leads from resurgent Toyotas, safety car out for crash
Audi's Andre Lotterer led Nicolas Lapierre's Toyota at the end of an opening hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours that was largely run under safety car conditions due to a heavy crash for Allan Simonsen's Aston Martin
Simonsen had been leading the GTE Am class when he spun into the barriers at Tertre Rouge on lap four.
With the #95 car coming to rest in the middle of the track, and a large hole being made in the outside barrier, the safety car was scrambled and Simonsen removed in an ambulance after initially being tended to trackside.
The extensive repairs needed to the barriers meant that the safety car was still on track as the 60-minute mark was reached.
Lotterer had initially grabbed the lead from Allan McNish as the pair of Audis crossed the line to start the race; Lapierre needing only two corners before moving into the top three at Lucas di Grassi's expense.
The Frenchman then relieved McNish of second on the run into Mulsanne chicane, only to be repassed on the following straight.
After finally making the place his own he set after Lotterer and was right on his tail when the safety car was called following Simonsen's crash.
Anthony Davidson, driving the #8 TS030 HYBRID, held third with Audi pair McNish and di Grassi next up.
The best of the non-hybrid LMP1 cars was the #12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota of Nick Heidfeld.
LMP2 polesitter Olivier Pla briefly lost the lead of the class to John Martin on the opening lap, but the OAK Morgan-Nissan driver quickly re-established himself ahead of the Australian.
Martin was later forced to pit due to a slow puncture while the sister G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan of Shinji Nakano spent five laps in the pits having a gear-selection problem rectified.
Brendon Hartley also spent time in the pits early on, with the #48 Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan suffering an electrical problem.
Aston Martin driver Darren Turner led GTE Pro in the #97 Vantage GTE. Marc Lieb's Manthey-run works Porsche and Rob Bell in the second Aston held second and third.
Simonsen's crash left the Porsches of Pat Long (Dempsey Del Piero), Wolf Henzler (Imsa) and Paolo Ruberti (Proton) at the head of the GTE Am class.
A tactical pitstop that involved Ruberti handing over driving duties to Christian Ried, promoted Marco Cioci to third in the class.
POSITIONS AFTER 1 HOUR Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 9 2. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 9 + 0.406s 3. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 9 + 1.385s 4. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 9 + 2.026s 5. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 9 + 3.280s 6. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 9 + 5.739s 7. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 9 + 6.857s 8. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 9 + 8.391s 9. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 9 + 9.256s 10. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 9 + 10.425s 11. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 9 + 11.690s 12. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 9 + 12.478s 13. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 9 + 14.819s 14. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 9 + 15.857s 15. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 9 + 17.232s 16. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 9 + 18.026s 17. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 9 + 21.831s 18. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 9 + 22.917s 19. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 9 + 23.866s 20. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 9 + 24.958s 21. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 9 + 25.684s 22. P2 #31 Lotus Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut 9 + 27.457s 23. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 9 + 30.038s 24. P2 #28 Lola Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara 9 + 31.171s 25. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 9 + 32.162s 26. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 9 + 32.957s 27. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 9 + 33.614s 28. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 9 + 3m31.612s 29. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 9 + 3m35.579s 30. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 9 + 3m36.461s 31. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 9 + 3m37.432s 32. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 9 + 3m38.904s 33. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 9 + 3m40.797s 34. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 9 + 3m42.605s 35. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 9 + 3m43.070s 36. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 9 + 3m43.774s 37. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 9 + 3m45.366s 38. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 9 + 3m46.035s 39. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 9 + 3m47.326s 40. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 9 + 3m48.015s 41. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 9 + 3m48.962s 42. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 9 + 3m49.834s 43. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 9 + 3m50.853s 44. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 9 + 3m52.260s 45. GTA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani 9 + 3m55.616s 46. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 9 + 3m57.045s 47. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 9 + 3m58.426s 48. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 9 + 3m58.884s 49. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 9 + 3m59.431s 50. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 8 + 1 Lap 51. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 8 + 1.128s 52. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 8 + 3.439s 53. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 8 + 4.623s 54. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 8 + 6.187s 55. P2 #25 Oreca Graves/Hamilton/Nakano 5 + 4 Laps 56. GTA #95 Aston Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen 2 + 7 Laps
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