24h Le Mans
The first race of the 2021 Road to Le Mans was won by Nielsen Racing's Anthony Wells and Colin Noble after the 55-minute round endured an extended safety car neutralization.
After the green flag released the 45 competitors, Muhlner Motorsport's #21 Duqueine of Ugo de Wilde/Moritz Krantz got the jump on pole-sitter DKR Engineering's #3 of Jean Glorieux/Laurents Hörr. In GT3, Team WRT's #72 Audi pulled off the same trick at Mulsanne on Pzoberer Zürichsee by TFT's #2 Porsche of Nicolas Leutwiler/Julien Andlauer. A collision in the Ford chicane between the #83 Mercedes and the #51 Ferrari caused the safety car to take the track.
The first pit stops took place during the long neutralization. Though it did not change the lead hierarchy between DKR Engineering and Muhlner Motorsport's two Duqueines, Oman Racing's #95 Aston Martin left pit lane and took the lead in GT3.
As the green flag signaled the restart of the race in the fifth lap, a new round of pit stops in LMP3 saw Nielsen Racing's #7 Ligier take the lead in the race. Driver Colin Noble immediately increased the gap and Iron Lynx's Ferraris sounded the charge in GT3. First, Doriane Pin in the #9 claimed a provisional finish in the class and Logan Sargeant in the #8 nabbed the top spot. The top 3 in GT3 remained the same through the checkered flag, with an outstanding third place for female duo Doriane Pin/Manuela Gostner.
Noble and Wells won 4.5 seconds ahead of the #66 Duqueine of Nicolas Varrone/Alexander Mattschull, and Cool Racing's #69 Ligier of Maurice Smith/Matt Bell rounded out the podium. The fastest in-race lap was clocked by Laurents Hörr in 3:46.374.
Race 2 of Road to Le Mans will also last 55 minutes and is set to start on Saturday at 12:15.
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, ROAD TO LE MANS, THURSDAY 19 AUGUST 2021. Nielsen Racing and Iron Lynx won the first of two races of the 2021 Road to Le Mans, in LMP3 and GT3 respectively.
