Le Mans practice and first qualifying
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As quickly as that, the first day of Le Mans 2019 is done. Here's our report from a more dramatic than expected first qualifying session, which was topped by the #7 Toyota. Join us again tomorrow from 5:45pm UK time for coverage of Thursday's action. 
LMP2
We should point out that after completing an exploratory outlap, Maldonado did return to the track and lap in the low 3m30s in the repaired #31 DragonSpeed, although it's impossible to tell at this stage whether he was running new tyres, or how much fuel he was carrying.
Information
Here are you end of first qualifying class leaders: LMP1 - #7 Toyota; LMP2 - #DragonSpeed ORECA; GTE Pro - #67 Ford; GTE Am - #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche.
LMP2
A good lap right at the end of the session for Ho-Pin Tung in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA puts him sixth, and the best of the Dunlop runners. Still, he's 1.9 seconds off the pace of provisional LMP2 pole-sitter Maldonado in the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA, with Nicolas Lapierre one tenth shy for Signatech-Alpine.
Checkered flag
Chequered flag is out for the end of the first qualifying session.
LMP1
Alonso improves again - though not his position, this time - and now has a fastest time of 3m19.632s.
GTE PRO
Some last-minute improvements in Pro mean it's now the #67 Ford of Harry Tincknell leading on a 3m49.530s, not quite as quick as Garcia's earlier time in the Corvette but (hopefully!) legal. Tandy has jumped to second now on a 3m49.558s, nearly half a second up on the #97 Aston in third.
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.@alo_oficial was close from going off at Mulsanne corner! 🙉
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Not long after this...
LMP1
Alonso has improved the #8 Toyota's position to fourth with a 3m19.837s.
LMP1
Van der Zande is also out in the #10 DragonSpeed with five minutes of this first qualifying session left on the clock.
There's some more movement in Pro - both IMSA Porsches have just posted improvements, with Nick Tandy going second-fastest on a 3m50.109s in the #93 car and Mathieu Jaminet logging a 3m50.278s in the sister #94 machine. That makes it four Porsches in the top five!
LMP1
Incredibly, Lopez is back out on track in the #7 Toyota. Five of the eight LMP1s are out there now.
Green flag
The #66 Ford has been carried away, so cars are back up to full speed.
LMP2
The #31 DragonSpeed ORECA had gone back out on track with Maldonado at the wheel but has now returned to the pits.
GTE PRO
Garcia's had his class-topping time scrubbed for improving under yellow flags. That bumps the #63 Corvette, now with Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel, all the way down to 10th, and puts Aston Martin back on top of the pile.
Pla's Ford sporting a revised rear end after that biff with the barriers
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GTE PRO
New fastest time in GTE Pro - the first improvement of any kind in a good while in the class. Antonio Garcia has pumped in a 3m49.467s in the #63 Corvette C7.R, which is seriously rapid. It's a full 0.570s up on Alex Lynn's Aston Martin, which had been sitting atop the class standings since the early stages.
Slow Zone
Olivier Pla's #66 Ford GT is off into the barriers at the Porsche Curves! That'll be a slow zone, then.
JAMES NEWBOLD has scampered down to the pits and captured this image of the damaged DragonSpeed nose. "Big damage". Yeah.
LMP1
We have a change of position in LMP1, as Laurent - back out in the #3 Rebellion - jumps up to third on a 3m19.603s.
Here's our best attempt to capture that Gonzalez-Conway impact
We had all eight LMP1s back in the pits for a bit, but the seven still capable of lapping are now on track.
Toyota - and Conway - are lucky there's no more substantial damage (LAT Images)
Information
Both drivers involved are OK and back in their pit garages.
LMP1
Replays show that Conway got four wheels off the ground in the collision. A nasty incident.
Full Course Yellow
The slow zone is in place now, and the incident is also under investigation. Plenty of debris for the marshals at the Ford chicane to clear away.
The class-leading cars in LMP1 and LMP2 come together in a bizarre incident at the Ford Chicane - Roberto Gonzalez spun and drove against traffic into Mike Conway, who had absolutely no chance to avoid the accident. Major front-end damage on the DragonSpeed ORECA, and on the left-front corner of the #7 Toyota, both of which are back in the garage.
Crash
A slow zone is being readied as a result of that crash.
GTE PRO
The #64 Corvette is back out with Milner at the wheel after a protracted stay in the pits of just over 30 minutes following its earlier puncture.
GTE PRO
It's all been pretty static in GTE Pro for the last half-hour or so: it's still Aston #97 (Alex Lynn set the benchmark 3m50.037s) leading Porsches #91, #92 and #93, Aston #95 and Ferrari #71.
Crash
Wow! Huge hit for Conway.
LMP1
A reminder of the LMP1 order: 1 #7 Toyota; 2 #17 SMP; 3 #10 DragonSpeed; 4 #3 Rebellion; 5 #1 Rebellion; 6 #8 Toyota; 7 #11 SMP; 8 #4 ByKolles
LMP1
Sure enough, there's a shot of the predominantly yellow #3 car up on its stands.
Pit stop
It's so blooming dark out that we couldn't make out the #3 Rebellion (even in it's high-vis paint), but the timing screen suggests it has now been recovered to the pits.
LMP1
Conway pitted the provisional polesitting #7 Toyota while that slow zone was in place but has headed back out again, rather than handing back to either Kobayashi or Lopez.
Green flag
Slow zone over, the track is green once again.
By: Matt Beer
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