After two hours of exhilarating green flag running at the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, #50 Ferrari 499P driver Nicklas Nielsen held the lead.
Heading into the second hour, Neel Jani pitted his #99 Proton Competition 963 for a second five-minute affair in the garage before he returned to the track with the suspected issue being the door catch not properly engaging.
This was also an issue at the previous FIA World Endurance Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps.
Paul di Resta in the #94 Peugeot 9X8 and Edoardo Mortara in the #63 Lamborghini SC63 were under investigation has the pair made contact at the second chicane on the Mulsanne.
A great effort was being exerted by Charles Milesi in the #35 Alpine A424 after he fought for fifth with Sebastien Bourdais’ #3 Cadillac V-Series.R.
Heading into the first Dunlop chicane, the Alpine driver accidently cut the first chicane as he then commenced the push towards his fellow countryman.
The #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P was under attention after the Ferrari team manager was summoned to race control, either for their car leaking oil or for under timing their 10-second stop-and-go penalty carried out during the first hour of the race.
The rain emerged hard at the Porsche Curves, though dry for most of the 13.626 km circuit.
A thrilling fight for the lead was in place for the leading pair of Ferraris, with the #83 AF Corse of Robert Kubica and the #50 of Nicklas Nielsen.
The Polish driver defended into the Mulsanne corner, but got a slow run on the exit which lended the lead to the #50 driver.
Nielsen ran side-by-side into Indianapolis but Kubica showcased brave and late braking technique into the complex.
Eventually, Nielsen overtook Kubica into the first chicane.
Third place was being held by Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche Penske ahead of both Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63s with the #19 (Andrea Caldarelli) ahead of the #63 (Mortara).
LMP2 housed a strong effort by Malthe Jakobsen who overtook Oliver Jarvis (#22 United Autosports Oreca 07) into third, before they swapped again.
The Dane and Peugeot Sport support driver triple stinted onwards.
Drama took place for Naveen Rao’s #47 Cool Racing Oreca at the Porsche Curves entry with Thomas Flohr’s #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296, though both continued after they half-spun as a result of the contact.
Flohr was later awarded a drive-through penalty for responsibility for the incident.
As the rain got heavier, before later drying up, the lead was being held by Patrick Pilet’s #10 Vector Sport’s Oreca 07 ahead of Vladislav Lomko in the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, and Kyffin Simpson’s #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca.
Ritomo Miyata was in fourth place in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca, with PJ Hyett behind in the #14 ‘Spike the Dragon’ AO Racing by TF Oreca.
In LMGT3, it was a strong run thus far for the debut of the new Ford Mustang as works drivers Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen kept their #77 and #88 Protons in P2 and P4.
Satoshi Hoshino, who will retire from professional racing after this edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, served a drive-through penalty for a slow zone infringement.
Many set themselves to run the race out on slick tyres with intermittent wet and dry areas.
Larry ten Voorde was in first place in the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 296, followed by Esteban Masson’s #87 Akoddis ASP Lexus RC F, followed by the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 of Ahmed Al Harthy.
Ryan Hardwick’s #77 Proton Ford Mustang was in fourth as Morris Schuring’s #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 rounded off the top-five.
