The Audis, led by Allan McNish, led away very rapidly at the start. Forty-seven of the cars started on time with the no. 34 WR having to start after the entire field had gone by. It failed to make the grid on time. The GTS contest remained quite close, with the Fellows Corvette pressing strongly for second place. The first car to stop was the no. 5 Reynard, which became stranded at Mulsanne Corner.
While there were many victories, there were also many disappointments. Corvette suffered even after Ron Fellows was right with Wendlinger in GTS at the start of the race. Oreca Vipers refuel much faster than the Corvettes.
Disaster struck for Cadillac hopes at the 20-minute mark (lap 9) when the already troubled no. 4 DAMS entry had a huge engine fire at the beginning of the Mulsanne straight. Marshals struggled to get the fire out. The #4 Cadillac was hauled back in a very sad state at 50 minutes into the 24-hour race.
This brought out the pace cars. Although it was quite early, a great many teams took the opportunity to take on fuel. The Audis stayed out longest, but they too came in-using differing strategies with regard to tire changes. The one-hour period expired with the Cadillac Northstar pace car losing a piece of its underbody.
The First Hour Summary found Overall Leader: no. 11 Panoz LMP 675, no. 34 Reynard-VW GTS, no. 52 Oreca Viper GT, no. 83 Barbour Porsche.Vipers (Oreca) are 1 - 2 - 3, so the top two classes are going as expected now.
Team Rafanelli was forced to pull out of the race shortly after the mid point when engine problems forced retirement. This was especially disappointing as the team was running an excellent fifth in the early stages of the competition, and the crew had worked for 90 minutes to repair the car after driver Emanuele Naspetti spun and crashed the car damaging its front suspension.
Punctures, rear end problems and factory domination are the features of the race so far. Cadillac has a right rear wheel that won't come off. Same problem as at Daytona. The disc has broken up apparently, and jammed the wheel on. Reynard's engine explodes. At half time (04.00) the Olive Garden Lola stopped at Arnage with smoke seeping from the engine area. Game over.
