Vanthoor managed to wrest the lead of the six-hour contest away from home favourite Toyota with a bold move up the inside of poleman Mike Conway at the very start of the race.
With both Toyotas being compromised, dropping the two GR010 HYBRIDs that had locked out the front row down the order, Vanthoor was able to build a gap at the head of the field in the #6 Porsche 963 he shared with Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer.
