Ferrari lead all-action first hour at Le Mans 24h

After locking out the second row in qualifying, Ferrari made immediate progress as the #50 went from fourth to second on the opening lap.

Nicklas Nielsen then took over the lead shortly after as he swopped past the #6 Porsche that started on pole.

At the wheel of the #6 Porsche, Laurens Vanthoor was then bumped down to second as Antonio Giovinazzi made it a Ferrari 1-2.

Giovinazzi then started his push to catch Nielsen, which he did by lap six, however, the lead Ferrari was proving difficult to overtake.

Giovinazzi was given an opening 35 minutes into the race when Nielsen made a mistake on corner entry, but the #51 came back through on the run to Indianapolis.

This allowed Vanthoor and the #6 Porsche to close in as the lead trio were separated by just over a second.

When the opening pit stops took place it was the #6 Porsche who gained the lead, with the #50 Ferrari of Nielsen filtering into second but not before an unsafe release into the path of Sebastien Bourdais and the #3 Cadillac.

The #51 Ferrari, second at the time of the pit stops, lost touch and dropped to fifth after serving a ten second penalty in the pits.

Following a slow zone just before the end of hour one, Ferrari regained the advantage as Nielsen moved ahead of Vanthoor to regain the lead.

Giovinazzi did the same against Sebastien Buemi as he gained fourth spot before applying pressure to Bourdais’s #3 Cadillac.

In LMP2, it was the #9 Proton Competition which led the way at the end of the opening hour, while it LMGT3 it was the #70 Inception Racing McLaren on top.