Nasr Leads Porsche 1-2 After Three Hours

Felipe Nasr led a Porsche Penske Motorsport 1-2 after three hours of Motul Petit Le Mans were completed, while GTD Pro championship leaders AO Racing lost significant time due to a gearshift issue.

Nasr’s No. 7 Porsche 963 ran 9.384 seconds clear of the No. 6 sister car in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet, with Ricky Taylor third at the wheel of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.

The No. 7 Porsche was able to assume the lead of the race when the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R was given a drivethrough penalty when Jack Aitken was caught passing under yellow.

Aitken’s co-driver Tom Blomqvist was later involved in an incident involving the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8, with the British racer tagging Jesse Krohn into a spin at Turn 10.

Blomqvist was given a drivethrough penalty for incident responsibility.

Bent Viscaal and Tijmen van der Helm rounded out the overall top five for Proton Competition and JDC-Miller Motorsports, respectively, ahead of Blomqvist and the No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura of Louis Deletraz.

Nicklas Nielsen led LMP2 aboard the No. 88 Richard Mille AF Corse  Oreca 07 Gibson, 3.214 seconds clear of TDS Racing’s Hunter McElrea.

McElrea lost the lead after serving a drivethrough for incident responsibility following contact with the No. 45 WTRAndretti Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 at Turn 3.

The No. 2 United Autosports Oreca, which started from pole and led the opening hour with Ben Keating at the wheel, was eliminated from contention in an incident also involving Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and MDK by High Class Racing.

The incident resulted in the No. 2 Oreca and the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Tommy Milner going off at Turn 6.

Race control handed out no penalties for the collision, deeming it “inconclusive” after review.

Mirko Bortolotti led GTD Pro aboard the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, 12.399 seconds ahead of the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

The pair of Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s ran third and fourth in the hands of Joey Hand and Christopher Mies.

In addition to Milner, two other notable GTD Pro entrants ran into significant problems during the opening hours, including an issue with potential championship ramifications for AO Racing.

Julien Andlauer’s No. 77 Porsche dropped back as the car struggled to change gears, with the Frenchman eventually completing a full lap stuck in first gear.

The team eventually fixed the problem, which appeared to be related to steering wheel connectivity, during a lengthy pitstop that has left the car several laps down on the class lead.

The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, meanwhile, came to a stop at Turn 7 with apparent engine issues just before the end of the third hour.

GTD was led by the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Elliott Skeer, ahead of the Frankie Montecalvo-driven No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Patrick Gallagher.