Lamy takes early lead with Peugeot

Franck Montagny fell into line behind Lamy and lies less than a second behind the leader, while Nicolas Minassian is a couple of seconds further back after briefly losing third place to Allan McNish on the opening lap.

Lucas Luhr is fifth in the No. 3 Audi, ahead of Frank Biela in the No. 1 car, who has taken sixth place from the Stefan Mucke in the Lola Aston Martin. Mucke is now in close scrap with the No.11 Dome for seventh place and top petrol runner.

Jeroen Bleekemolen has taken an early lead in LMP2 for Van Merksteijn Motorsport but is just three seconds ahead of Casper Elgaard in similar the Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder.

Jan Magnussen is pulling away from Corvette team-mate Oliver Gavin at the head of GT1, while both factory Aston Martins have overtaken the Christophe Bouchut in the Larbre Saleen for third and fourth places.

The Flying Lizards Porsche has taken the early lead of GT2, with Jorg Bergmeister at the wheel. Jaime Melo have moved the Risi Competizione Ferrari up to second, ahead of Rob Bell in the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari.

The No. 76 IMSA Porsche and No. 22 Tokai University cars were relegated to the back of the grid before the start, while the No. 97 Scuderia Italia Ferrari started from the pit lane.