Buemi leads Le Mans for Toyota after an hour

Buemi's #8 Toyota leads Le Mans an hour into the race after an early pit strategy, with the car jumping rivals who stopped later and leaving Buemi to absorb a subsequent stop from that decision. Rene Rast, driving the pole-sitting #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, is about 2.5 seconds behind Buemi and briefly led on the lead lap before Buemi regained the advantage along the Mulsanne. Ferdinand Habsburg sits third in the #36 Alpine, while the #38 Cadillac of Will Stevens sits fourth. In LMP2, Job van Uitert’s #28 IDEC Sport leads after starting on pole, about six seconds ahead of Esteban Masson in the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca, with Julien Andlauer third in the #30 Duqueine Oreca. In LMGT3, Jack Hawksworth leads the #78 ASP Lexus from polesitter Ian James in the #27 Aston Martin, with James close in pursuit by roughly 13 seconds and Mattia Drudi having started the #78 before handing control to James.