Bourdais Passes Deletraz for Opening-Hour Lead at Petit

Sebastien Bourdais overtook Louis Deletraz around the outside at Turn 1 to take an early lead for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing in the ten-hour Motul Petit Le Mans race.

Despite a strong initial getaway from pole-sitter Deletraz, front-row starter Bourdais swept above the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 and remained ahead until the end of the opening hour.

The top two elected not to pit under the second of two full course caution periods during an eventful start to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale.

The first caution was caused by Ari Balogh crashing the Tower Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson into the Turn 3 tire barriers on his own. It came shortly after the same driver rotated into the barriers on cold tires during the first formation lap.

Seven minutes of green flag running ended with the safety car’s second appearance after Cetilar Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3 left debris from a puncture caused by contact between Antonio Fuoco and Mercedes-AMG driver Mike Skeen.

At that point, most of the GTP field pitted for fuel except for Bourdais and Deletraz who stayed out, along with a handful of drivers from other classes.

The Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani jumped from sixth to third in the pits, but the Brazilian lost ground at the restart as Tom Blomqvist regained third in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura.

Towards the end of the hour, Blomqvist came under pressure from BMW M Teal RLL’s Connor De Phillippi, who ran through the grass at the chicane after a close call in the braking zone.

That enabled Felipe Nasr to snatch fourth in the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963, while De Phillippi ended up being passed by Derani and Nick Tandy in the other works Porsche.

Tandy was bouncing back from a drive-through penalty for changing lanes at the start. The No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus had the same infraction.

In the GTD ranks, Doriane Pin surged to the front in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO.

Between the caution periods, GTD driver Pin overtook Aaron Telitz’s Lexus RC F GT3 at the final corner and dispatched the GTD Pro-leading Lexus of Jack Hawksworth.

The Iron Lynx team then kept Pin out during the second caution period’s pit stops and she cycled to the lead as a result, as The Heart of Racing brought its pole-sitting No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of James into the lane.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports driver Ben Keating led LMP2 at the end of the opening hour despite a solo spin at Turn 6.

Cameron Shields ran out front in the LMP3 class for Performance Tech Motorsports.