Toyota driver Mike Conway leads Le Mans 24 Hours after first hour

With the race getting going shortly before the end of the hour after a safety car start, Jani made a clean restart in the #2 Porsche, while team-mate Timo Bernhard came under severe pressure from Conway, losing second on lap eight down the Mulsanne Straight.

At the start of the second racing lap, Conway had briefly fallen behind Andre Lotterer, who like Audi team-mate Loic Duval passed the second Toyota of Sebastien Buemi shortly after the race went green.

After moving into second, Conway made short work of Jani and took the lead at the Ford Chicane.

Two of the three LMP1 privateers hit trouble before racing even got properly underway, with the ByKolles CLM joining the action late after being wheeled off the grid with a smoking engine, and the #12 Rebellion spending 20 minutes in the garage after pitting during safety car conditions.

LMP2 - SIGNATECH ORECA LEADS
By Mitchell Adam

Polewinner Rene Rast started the G-Drive ORECA and led the class by 10 seconds after the first two racing laps, before pitting.

That handed the lead to Signatech Alpine's Nicolas Lapierre, who passed Baxi DC Racing's Nelson Panciatici on the first racing lap, having originally lost a place to Manor's Roberto Merhi.

At the end of the first racing lap, Merhi pitted, along with Strakka's Jonny Kane, Thiriet by TDS Racing's Mathias Beche and Jake Dennis in the G-Drive Gibson.

KCMG, Eurasia Motorsport, Michael Shank Racing and Extreme Speed Motorsports have also made early stops.

GTE - FORD STILL ON TOP
By Scott Mitchell

Ford leads in GTE but Porsche had charged into second and third by the end of the hour.

Dirk Muller held a one-second lead over the #92 911 RSR of Frederic Makowiecki, who charged from seventh to second in two racing laps.

Patrick Pilet followed his team-mate to third by the end of lap nine, demoting James Calado to fourth in the lead AF Corse Ferrari.

The second of the Fords, the #66 car, ran fifth but the #69 Ford that started second tumbled to sixth and ended the first hour in the pits for its first stop.

But that was better than the #67 Ford's opening hour, as it was wheeled off the grid before the start of the race with a gearbox issue and spent the first 10 minutes in the garage before Andy Priaulx rejoined two laps down.

POSITIONS AFTER ONE HOUR: