Porsche led the way after the opening hour of the Sebring 12 Hours, as an earlyꦰ penalty dealt a major blow to the poleಌ-sitting BMW.

Dries Vanthoor was found guilty of chan✅ging lanes before t🦄he start line when the race went green at 10:10am local time, with the race control hitting him with the drive through penalty for the offence.

The sanction dropped the #24 RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 to the middle of the GTD pack, not helped by an early full-course yellow bunching ♊the field up.

The biggest ❀beneficiary of Vanthoor’s error was Felipe Nasr, who claimed the lead in the #7 Porsche Penske after passing the #60 Meyer Shank Acura of Tom Blomqvist on lap 1.

Mathieu Jaminet also overtook Blomqvist at the first FCY restart, 🏅establish a🐽 1-2 for Porsche at the head of the GTP order,

Blomqvist settled into third place, ahead of the sister Acura driven by Renger 🎀van der Zande.

Ricky Taylor held fifth in the #40 Wayne Taylor Rﷺacing Cadilla♚c.

In LMP2, Steven Thomas🍌 comfortably retained his lead in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07, circulating almost five seconds clear of Daniel Goldburg in the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07 until a late FCY.

Likewise꧂, Dragon🌠Speed driver Albert Costa led from pole in the GTD Pro class, holding a near-one second lead in the #81 Ferrari 296 GT3.

His closest rival was Laurin Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Tommy Miꦉlner running third in the #4 Pratt Miller Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Meanwhile, Philip Ellis leapt to the front in the GTD class in his #57 Winward Merced🐻es AMG G💃T3, with Jack Hawksworth running second in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

The pole-sitting #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 lost a heap of time due to a front-left assembly change in the first 30 minutes, leaving Simon Mann𓃲, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Lilou Wadoux four laps down.

Another GTD-class Ferrari hit early trouble, with the #023 Triarsi car of Charles Scardina at Tower T✤urner after a run-in with a Wayne Taylor Cadillac GTP car.

That brought out the second FCY of the day, which remained in place as the f♏irst hour was completed.