Merriman, who had spun leaving pitlane before the start of the race, appeared to be wrong-footed by his closing rate on an LMP3 car ahead at the 50min mark, lost the rear end under braking and ripped off the front bodywork of his Oreca on a tire barrier.
Up front Kobayashi had been leading in Action Express Racing’s enduro-only entry that he shares with Mike Rockenfeller, Jimmie Johnson and Jose Maria Lopez, with Tristan Vautier running second for JDC Miller MotorSports and the two Ganassi Cadillacs.
However, the yellow flag prompted the DPis to pit for a second time, and when they emerged Kobayashi, Vautier and Bourdais were still 1-2-3, but both Filipe Albuquerque in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 and Pipo Derani in the Whelen Engineeering AXR Caddy had demoted Bamber to sixth. Tom Blomqvist ran seventh for Meyer Shank Racing after a wheelnut issue in its first stop.
High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen moved into the lead of LMP2 following the pitstop under the first…
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