Toyota Racing’s Sebastien Buemi has climbed from 15th on the grid to lead the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans at the end of the opening hour, after undercutting the Hypercar field during the opening round of pit stops aboard his #8 TR010 Hybrid.
In a move all too reminiscent of the success strategy at last month’s 6 Hours of Spa, Buemi pitted up to three laps before the frontrunners, vaulting into the lead and securing some all-important clean air.
For the fourth consecutive year, the pole-sitting entry failed to lead at the end of the opening lap, as the #15 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen was jumped off the line by Will Stevens’ #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.
Approaching the Daytona chicane, René Rast then drafted by Stevens in the #20 BMW, claiming a lead he would hold until the pit stop sequence.
Rast now sits second, 6.3 seconds behind Buemi, with the #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424 of Ferdinand Habsburg up to third after Stevens lost ground during the opening pit stop cycle.
The #38 Cadillac of Earl Bamber is in fourth, ahead of the #7 Toyota, which also pitted early. Stevens is now sixth, with the #101 WTR Cadillac in seventh ahead of Magnussen, who gradually slipped back during a difficult opening stint for the Dane.
In LMP2, IDEC Sport’s Job van Uitert has retained the lead in the #28 ORECA 07 – Gibson, with the Dutchman currently four seconds ahead of the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA of Esteban Masson.
Masson, who has a five-second penalty looming over him for a race start infringement, fell back to sixth on the opening lap, but vaulted back up to second during the first pit cycle.
The #30 Duqueine Team ORECA of Julien Andlauer is third, ahead of the LMP2 Pro/Am leading #99 AO by TF entry of Dane Cameron.
The #4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA of Alex Quinn led LMP2 Pro/Am throughout the opening stint, but has since fallen back to second in the sub-class after Bronze-ranked George Kurtz was installed at its opening pit stop.
And in LMGT3, pole-sitter Mattia Drudi controlled the opening stint in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3, before handing over to Bronze-ranked co-driver Ian James at the opening round of pit stops.
James was then overtaken by the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 of Jack Hawksworth, with the Lexus factory driver having gone on to establish a 17-second lead by the end of the opening hour.
The #87 Lexus of Petru Umbrarescu is third, ahead of the pair of Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 Evos, both of which have had their pro drivers installed since the start.
Of those to have only fielded their Bronze driver so far, the #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 is best placed, with James Cottingham in 10th in LMGT3.
The #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 Evo had to make an unscheduled pit stop to repair some damaged rear bodywork, whilst the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 has also fallen back after spinning at Tertre Rouge on his out lap. Berry managed not to hit anything, but the car still picked up some front-right bodywork damage.
Images © dailysportscar.com
