The pole-sitting Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Filipe Albuquerque was shuffled back to third on the opening lap, with Tristan Vautier storming into the lead in the JDC Miller Motorsport Cadillac DPi-V.R that he had qualified fastest prior to last week’s grid-setting qualifying race.
Kobayashi also overtook Albuquerque in the Ally-liveried Action Express Racing Cadillac he shares with Mike Rockenfeller, Jimmie Johnson and Jose Maria Lopez, the Japanese then moving ahead of Vautier on lap seven.
Kobayashi had remained at the head of the field from Vautier and the two Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs of Sebastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber, when Dwight Merriman shunted his Era Motorsport LMP2 ORECA under braking.
The American amateur driver, who had earlier spun leaving pitlane before the start of the race, appeared to be wrong-footed by his closing rate on an LMP3 car ahead and clipped the tyre barrier approaching the corner apex.
The yellow flag prompted the leading Daytona Prototype…
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