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24H Le Mans - Hour One

24H Le Mans - Hour One

First hour of the 80th 24 hours of Le Mans. One hour into the 80th 24 Hours of Le Mans, most of the field has now stopped at least once for fuel and new tyres. In overcast conditions, the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer led away the field - a position he still holds ahead of the No.2 Audi and the two Toyota TS 030 Hybrids. Both Pescarolo Sport entries have had problems - the No.16 being the most serious as it concerns the engine.

In LM P2 the No.24 Oak Racing Morgan Judd leads from the Orecas of Thiritiet by TDS and Pecom Racing. The pole winning No.25 ADR Delta has dropped back after a long stop when the car would not start.

In GTE Pro the No.74 Corvette leads from Aston Martin and Ferrari after a close early battle, and in GTE Am the No.79 pole holding Flying Lizard Porsche remains in firm control but is being closely pursued by the No.99 Aston Martin.

15:00:27 Green Flag
15:02:58 Rain on circuit reported
15:04:41 No 1 Audi e-tron leads at end of first lap
#1 AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO (André LOTTERER)
15:06:10 No 16 Pescarolo going out on Intermediates
#16 PESCAROLO 03 - JUDD (Emmanuel COLLARD)
15:07:25 No 42 Zytek has not appeared at end of first lap yet
#42 ZYTEK Z11SN - NISSAN (Martin BRUNDLE)
15:09:21 No 42 Zytek has completed first lap ok
#42 ZYTEK Z11SN - NISSAN (Martin BRUNDLE)
15:10:33 No 16 Pescarolo back into pit
#16 PESCAROLO 03 - JUDD (Emmanuel COLLARD)
15:11:50 Fastest lap by Audi No 1 e-tron 3:28.562
#1 AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO (André LOTTERER)
15:17:56 Race leading No 1 Audi e-tron does 3:27.158 and leads from Audi ultra No3 and Audi e-tron No 2
#1 AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO (André LOTTERER)
15:18:32 No 25 Oreca leads LM P2
#25 ORECA 03-NISSAN (John MARTIN)
15:20:19 No 97 Aston Martin leads GTE Pro and No 79 Porsche leads GTE Am
#97 ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE V8 (Stefan MÜCKE)
#79 PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) (Patrick PILET)
15:22:27 No 21 Strakka HPD joins race 6 laps down
#21 HPD ARX 03A - HONDA (Jonny KANE)
15:24:43 Audi e-tron No 1 sets 3:26.302
#1 AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO (André LOTTERER)
15:27:37 No 30 Lola rejoins in 48th place after pitstop
#30 LOLA JUDD (Yelmer BUURMAN)
#48 ORECA 03-NISSAN
15:29:57 Toyota doing 11 lap and Audi 12 lap stints it would appear
15:31:11 No 17 Dome into its pit garage
#17 DOME JUDD (Sébastien BOURDAIS)
15:33:48 Audi ultra No 4 wheeled into its pit
#4 AUDI R18 ULTRA (Mike ROCKENFELLER)

Photo: CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES (LE MANS, SARTHE), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, 16TH JUNE 2012. The No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro leads away the field at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.