Nielsen was running fractionally ahead of the #6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor after one hour of racing, but must serve a 10-second penalty at his next pitstop for an unsafe release.
The three Ferrari LMH cars made blistering starts as the 92nd running of Le Mans 24 Hours got away at 4pm local time, with Nicklas in the #50 car jumping from fourth to slot into second.
Nielsen then got a great run on the polesitting #6 Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor, getting the move done into Indianapolis to grab the lead of the race.
The #51 Ferrari started by former Formula 1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi initially dropped to fourth, but reeled in the #3 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais for second on lap 2 before passing Vanthoor two tours later to establish a 1-2 for the Prancing Horse behind Nielsen.
The two Ferraris were able to build a brief buffer in the first 30 minutes of the race, but the first of the Porsches and Cadillacs managed to close back in on them, with the leading four cars peeling into the pitlane right on the tail of each other.
The factory Penske pitcrew managed to service the #6 Porsche in two fewer seconds, allowing Vanthoor to return to the track in the lead of the race. Nielsen was next in queue, but nearly ran into Bourdais’s Cadillac as he rejoined the fast lane.
In the next two laps, Nielsen was able to get back ahead of Vanthoor to retake the lead of the race, but is likely to drop back down the order when he comes in to serve his penalty.
Third place is currently held by the sister factory #51 Ferrari of Giovinazzi, who served a 10-second stop/go penalty at the first pitstop due to an offence in qualifying, the Italian getting ahead of Bourdais in the second stint.
The #8 Toyota completed the top five with Sebastien Buemi at the wheel, with Charles Milesi sixth in the best of the Alpine LMDh cars on the French manufacturer’s return to the top class.
An impressive launch from 12th on the grid helped Robert Kubica to move up to seventh in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, which also was sanctioned in qualifying like the factory #51 car.
The first Hypercar manufacturer to suffer a setback was BMW after Marco Wittmann spun the #15 BMW M Hybrid at the esses while running in seventh position, lightly hitting the barriers.
It forced the two-time DTM champion to make an early pitstop, leaving him firmly at the bottom of the Hypercar order.
The #99 Proton Porsche started by 2016 Le Mans winner Neel Jani was wheeled back into the garage after just 45 minutes on the clock.
The #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid that started from the rear of the class made little headways in the opening hour, with Nyck de Vries — who was involved in a collision with a Lexus GT3 car in warm-up — only climbing up to 16th place.
In LMP2, a rapid pitstop helped Bent Viscaal to take the lead in the #9 Proton ORECA 07 ahead of #65 Panis Racing entry of Mathis Beche and the #22 United Autosports car of Oliver Jarvis.
Polesitter Louis Deletraz had led comfortably in the first stint in the #14 AO by TF Oreca, but a change of driver in the pits meant PJ Hyett rejoined the field in the lower half of the top 10.
A brief slow zone was caused by gentleman driver Ben Keating when he beached his #23 United Autosports Oreca at the Dunlop Curve. He was able to continue after receiving external assistance in form of a crane.
The LMGT3 class continues to be led by Frederik Schandorff in the polesitting #70 Inception McLaren 720S GT3 despite a big challenge from Ben Barker in the #77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3.
Barker had started from fourth but made rapid gains in the early laps to grab second from Aliaksandr Malkyhin, whose #93 Manthey PureRXcing Porsche 911 GT3 R continued to tumble down the order in the opening hour.
Larry Ten Voorde holds third in the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3.
Le Mans 24 Hours 2024, Hour 1 results
| POS | # | CLASS | TEAM | CAR | LAPS | GAPS | PITS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | Hypercar H | FERRARI AF CORSE | 16 | — | 1 | |
| 2 | 6 | Hypercar H | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 16 | 0.423 | 1 | |
| 3 | 3 | Hypercar H | CADILLAC RACING | 16 | 2.558 | 1 | |
| 4 | 51 | Hypercar H | FERRARI AF CORSE | 16 | 3.095 | 1 | |
| 5 | 8 | Hypercar H | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 16 | 3.617 | 1 | |
| 6 | 35 | Hypercar H | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 16 | 4.017 | 1 | |
| 7 | 83 | Hypercar H | AF CORSE | 16 | 4.914 | 1 | |
| 8 | 36 | Hypercar H | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 16 | 6.593 | 1 | |
| 9 | 5 | Hypercar H | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 16 | 10.496 | 1 | |
| 10 | 38 | Hypercar H | HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 16 | 11.602 | 1 | |
| 11 | 311 | Hypercar H | WHELEN CADILLAC RACING | 16 | 12.975 | 1 | |
| 12 | 4 | Hypercar H | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 16 | 13.782 | 1 | |
| 13 | 2 | Hypercar H | CADILLAC RACING | 16 | 15.690 | 1 | |
| 14 | 93 | Hypercar H | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 16 | 16.762 | 1 | |
| 15 | 12 | Hypercar H | HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 16 | 17.102 | 1 | |
| 16 | 94 | Hypercar H | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 16 | 18.566 | 1 | |
| 17 | 7 | Hypercar H | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 16 | 19.763 | 1 | |
| 18 | 19 | Hypercar H | LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX | 16 | 20.550 | 1 | |
| 19 | 63 | Hypercar H | LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX | 16 | 20.702 | 1 | |
| 20 | 20 | Hypercar H | BMW M TEAM WRT | 16 | 21.039 | 1 | |
| 21 | 11 | Hypercar H | ISOTTA FRASCHINI |
Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C |
16 | 1:19.761 | 1 |
| 22 | 9 | LM P2 | PROTON COMPETITION | 15 | 2:41.456 | 1 | |
| 23 | 65 | LM P2 P/A | PANIS RACING | 15 | 2:47.163 | 1 | |
| 24 | 22 | LM P2 | UNITED AUTOSPORTS | 15 | 2:47.882 | 1 | |
| 25 | 37 | LM P2 | COOL RACING | 15 | 2:48.176 | 1 | |
| 26 | 28 | LM P2 | IDEC SPORT | 15 | 2:51.746 | 1 | |
| 27 | 15 | Hypercar H | BMW M TEAM WRT | 15 | 2:52.058 | 2 | |
| 28 | 10 | LM P2 | VECTOR SPORT | 15 | 2:53.457 | 1 | |
| 29 | 24 | LM P2 | NIELSEN RACING | 15 | 3:10.628 | 1 | |
| 30 | 34 | LM P2 | INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION | 15 | 3:13.383 | 1 | |
| 31 | 30 | LM P2 P/A | DUQUEINE TEAM | 15 | 3:30.510 | 1 | |
| 32 | 14 | LM P2 P/A | AO BY TF | 15 | 3:34.007 | 1 | |
| 33 | 183 | LM P2 P/A | AF CORSE | 15 | 5.996 | 1 | |
| 34 | 45 | LM P2 P/A | CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR | 15 | 34.926 | 1 | |
| 35 | 33 | LM P2 P/A | DKR ENGINEERING | 15 | 38.362 | 2 | |
| 36 | 23 | LM P2 P/A | UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA | 14 | 2 laps | 1 | |
| 37 | 99 | Hypercar H | PROTON COMPETITION | 14 | 3:14.735 | 2 | |
| 38 | 70 | LMGT3 | INCEPTION RACING |
McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo |
14 | 3:22.726 | 1 |
| 39 | 77 | LMGT3 | PROTON COMPETITION | 14 | 3:23.717 | 1 | |
| 40 | 66 | LMGT3 | JMW MOTORSPORT | 14 | 3:28.304 | 1 | |
| 41 | 88 | LMGT3 | PROTON COMPETITION | 14 | 6.708 | 1 | |
| 42 | 59 | LMGT3 | UNITED AUTOSPORTS |
McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo |
14 | 9.948 | 1 |
| 43 | 95 | LMGT3 | UNITED AUTOSPORTS |
McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo |
14 | 16.399 | 1 |
| 44 | 60 | LMGT3 | IRON LYNX |
Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 |
14 | 17.918 | 1 |
| 45 | 46 | LMGT3 | TEAM WRT | 14 | 18.902 | 1 | |
| 46 | 44 | LMGT3 | PROTON COMPETITION | 14 | 19.874 | 1 | |
| 47 | 27 | LMGT3 | HEART OF RACING TEAM |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 |
14 | 23.801 | 1 |
| 48 | 87 | LMGT3 | AKKODIS ASP TEAM | 14 | 24.267 | 1 | |
| 49 | 85 | LMGT3 | IRON DAMES |
Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 |
14 | 26.177 | 1 |
| 50 | 55 | LMGT3 | VISTA AF CORSE | 14 | 26.719 | 1 | |
| 51 | 92 | LMGT3 | MANTHEY PURERXCING |
Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 |
14 | 24.254 | 1 |
| 52 | 777 | LMGT3 | D’STATION RACING |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 |
14 | 44.998 | 1 |
| 53 | 91 | LMGT3 | MANTHEY EMA |
Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 |
14 | 46.361 | 1 |
| 54 | 86 | LMGT3 | GR RACING | 14 | 48.665 | 1 | |
| 55 | 31 | LMGT3 | TEAM WRT | 14 | 49.260 | 1 | |
| 56 | 54 | LMGT3 | VISTA AF CORSE | 14 | 53.157 | 1 | |
| 57 | 82 | LMGT3 | TF SPORT | 14 | 55.305 | 1 | |
| 58 | 155 | LMGT3 | SPIRIT OF RACE | 14 | 1:04.507 | 1 | |
| 59 | 81 | LMGT3 | TF SPORT | 14 | 1:06.852 | 1 | |
| 60 | 25 | LM P2 | ALGARVE PRO RACING | 13 | 3 laps | 1 | |
| 61 | 78 | LMGT3 | AKKODIS ASP TEAM | 13 | 2:34.126 | 1 | |
| 62 | 47 | LM P2 P/A | COOL RACING | 10 | 6 laps | 1 |