So far so good for Audi, which sits 1-2 after one hour of racing. The #8 R18 is leading the #7 after a controlling first stint by Loic Duval up front, and a fight through the field by Marcel Fassler to take second spot. In LMP2 Gustavo Menezes leads the way for Signatech Alpine, while the #97 Aston and Gulf Racing Porsche lead the GTE classes.
Through the first hour Loic Duval got away cleanly and created a comfortable margin of a few seconds throughout his stint while the other LMP1 runners squabbled behind. Initially the #2 Porsche of Neel Jani moved up into second spot, but slipped back to seventh towards the end of the hour after Fassler fought his way up the order from fourth and a puncture caused by a collision with a GTE runner forced Jani to make an extra stop.
Behind the two Audis is the #5 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, with the #1 Porsche of Mark Webber just off a podium spot.
In LMP2, it was a pretty calm hour until the very end when a few battles broke out. The running order is the @36 Signatech Alpine leading the way ahead of the RGR Sport Ligier with Bruno Senna driving and #44 Manor Oreca of Alex Lynn who recovered from a poor start.
Remarkably, in the fight is the G-Drive Oreca which started at the very back of the grid, forcing Rene Rast to slalom his way through the pack to put the car into contention. Rast currently sits sixth in the class.
In GTE Pro it was close for the opening 60 minutes, with Gianmaria Bruni taking the lead of the class at the start in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, until Darren Turner snatched the place back 50 minutes in. Shortly after that Bruni then slipped back to third after a costly error at Turn 9, slipping off the circuit and allowing Nicki Thiim in the #95 through. But after the first round of stops, James Calado emerged from the pits in second after Bruni handed the 488 over.
A sterling effort by Ben Barker in the Gulf Racing Porsche saw the team’s 911 take the lead in Am at Turn 1 up the inside, leaving the #98 Aston of Pedro Lamy and #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Emmanuel Collard to fight for second and third place.
Five hours to go in the 2016 season.
