Drama at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: an accident leaves three cars in the gravel in barely half a minute

The 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans have already started  . The race of races started with drama at the start, since we had an accident in the first meters. Three cars crashed in the middle of the finish line, ending up in the gravel and in danger of being abandoned early in the event.

The accident was in the LMP2 category. The #41 WRT, #22 United Autosport and #47 Algarve Pro Racing  crashed early in the race, putting all the cars in the gravel, having to pit and losing a lot of time. In fact, there is always a risk of abandonment for some.

 

Three LMP2s, from WRT, United Autosport and Algarve Pro Racing, affected

There were no surprises among the favorites for victory, although there was some tense moment. The two Toyotas held on to the top spots,  with the #8 car driven by Sébastien Buemi leading the race  . It is followed by Toyota #7, the one driven by Briton Mike Conway. These are the big favourites.

But  the Glickenhaus position themselves as its great enemies  . Already in the first meters, they managed to overtake an Alpine n°36 which is quite covered for this race, and which even lost a position with an LMP2, even if it has already recovered it. Glickenhaus knocked him down with his power down the straight.

The scare came on the first brake, where  Oliver Pla's #708 Glickenhaus entered  the race and had to avoid the Toyotas by skipping the first corner and then coming back into position. Let's not forget that last season we already had an accident in the first corner, hitting a Toyota and a Glickenhaus. It almost repeats itself.

Where there was tension was on the LMP2 side. The accident affected Ferdinand Habsburg in the #41 WRT, Will Owen in the #22 United Autosport and  Sophia Floersch in the #47 Algarve Pro Racing  . All three were left off the track, had to pull over, and made a pit stop to fix the issues.

Worst hit is  the Algarve team, which had to make extensive repairs  and lost up to six laps to the race leader. But they were able to resume walking. United Autosport have been helped by a tow truck but are also still in the race three laps behind Toyota.

WRT also lost nearly three laps to Toyota  but is still in the race. The accident happened at high speed in the middle of the straight, and it seemed to be a sandwich for Owen, who had nowhere to go and got stuck in the gravel, causing the first slow zone of the race.