The start could not have told of the hectic first hour!
The start at 3pm sharp under the official Rolex clock confirmed the strength of two Peugeots (Franck Montagny with the #8 car and Petro Lamy with the #7). Behind them, Allan McNish who was in front line along Franck for the start is now third. Five minutes after the start, three Peugeots pulled into the lead as Wurz managed to pass McNish, now in fourth.
In the morning's final test lap the works Peugeots set the best times. To trust in the warm-up results is difficult as the times were all relative. The three Peugeots, #8 Sarrazin/Montagny/Bourdais, #9 Gene/Wurz/Brabham and #7 Minassian/Lamy/Klien were the top three in front of the two Audis #3 Bernard/Dumas/Premat and #2 Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner. Fastest was Franck Montagny #8 car with 3:26.457. Next was the Henri #17 Pescarolo Peugeot (Boullion/Pagenaud/Treluyer) ahead of the Audi #1 of Capello/Christensen/McNish.
Audi had a difficult time in the warm up, #3 R15 drove out of the pitlane smoking slightly, #1 driven by Tom Kristensen went through the Dunlop curve gravel trap and #2 driven by Marco Werner spun after an incident with the most famous rookie this year, the American actor Patrick Dempsey.
The fastest LM P2 was the #31 Essex RS Spyder with a 3:41.670, followed by the other Porsche, the Navi Team Goh car #5 and then the Racing Box Lola #30.
The Corvette works cars still lead their class with #63 as the fastest with 3:55.091 and the fastest LM GT2 was the Felbermayr Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR with a time of 4:06.608.
These results do not take into account #39 KSM Mazda and #68 JLOC Murcielago, who did not record a timed lap this morning, nor #83 Risi Competizione F430 GT, who did not appear at all.
In short, the first seven cars were very close and all of those will fight for the win. The nuances of the long 24-hour race await this year's competitors. Anything is possible, incidents are certain to happen and the excitement of the race is swelling.
From the moment Luca di Montezemolo gave the start signal in front of millions watching around the world, the 77th great adventure of the Le Mans 24 Hours race began.
Narain Karthikeyan was injured at 15h34 and will not be able to drive the Audi #14 as he has dislocated his shoulder. Earlier in the week it was reported that Franck Montagny had a stress fracture of his left leg although he is able to drive the Peugeot # 8.
More to come for the 2009 edition of this legendary race!
Les 24 Heures du Mans 2009 began today, Saturday 13 June, at 15:00.
Rolex is the "Official Timekeeper" for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Le Mans Series. The new Asian Le Mans Series is set to launch this winter with events in Japan and China, and, in North America, Rolex has been the title sponsor for the Rolex 24 At Daytona since 1992.