Rowe Racing driver Alexander Sims leads the Paul Ricard 1000km after three hours, following a hectic start to the third round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup season.
The Brit has a lead of 13.596 seconds in the No. 99 BMW M6 GT3, ahead of Adam Christodoulou’s Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 which had led the first hour with Yelmer Buurman behind the wheel.
Both cars are due a pit stop however, which leaves the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 of Michele Rugolo and Bentley Continental GT3 of Andy Soucek favorites to assume the lead.
Rugolo led for a while before his most recent stop, but lost around 30 seconds with a drive-through penalty for running over the white line at the pit lane entry.
The Emil Frey Jaguar G3s appear to be running strongly at the French circuit, with Albert Costa leading the race in his No. 14 car for a considerable while.
Another manufacturer showing pace is Bentley, although a loss of oil pressure sent Guy Smith into the garage earlier in the race.
The opening two hours of the race saw plenty of incidents, and three separate Full Course Yellows which all turned into Safety Car periods.