The China Mail - Toyota makes early pace as BMW and Cadillac challenge at Le Mans

BMW and Cadillac are this year challenging established endurance powers Ferrari and Toyota and both made their presence felt as soon as Mark Cavendish dropped the flag.

The British cyclist knows about starting in Le Mans and winning. He collected one of his record 35 Tour de France stages on a run that started in the town in 2011. He unleashed a first-lap fight at the start.

The No.15 BMW of Kevin Magnussen started in pole but was soon overtaken by the Cadillac of Will Stevens. Rene Rast, who started fourth in the No.20 BMW, then blew by to grab the lead.

He was then caught before the hour was out by the No.8 Toyota with Sebastien Buemi at the wheel, who soon set the early fastest lap.

Rast inherited the lead again when the Toyotas were the first of the big teams to pit after a little more than an hour's racing.

The 94th Le Mans race promised a 24-hour sprint with a large field of contenders in front of more than 300,000 spectators.

With sunny skies and temperatures forecast to pass 30 degrees Celsius, the cars are likely to be pushed to their limits by the heat on the 13.6-kilometre Circuit de la Sarthe.

Ferrari have won the last three years in the hypercar class. Toyota won the five races before that. This time they face competition from BMW and Cadillac as well as Alpine, who have been improving in recent seasons.

While German manufacturers Porsche and Audi are the two most succesful in Le Mans history, BMW have won just once, in 1999. General Motors, which owns Cadillac, have entered under several names but never won. Alpine have one title, in 1978.

BMWs were first and second at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium in May and the team leads the endurance constructors' standings.

Toyota and Ferrari both struggled in qualifying. Toyotas two cars started 14th and 15th on the grid, the factory Ferraris were in eighth and 12th, although they were then fastest in warm ups on Saturday, with the satellite Corse Ferrari, which won last year, 17th.

H.Ng--ThChM