Total 24 Hours of Spa - Hour 1

15:09
And we're LIVE from Spa-Francorchamps for the 65th Total 24 Hours of Spa. The pit exit is open and cars can now get to the grid - or do some extra installation laps.

We're expecting intermittent showers until around seven o'clock. After that some reports say more rain, other say dry until late at night.

15:31
Packed grid - cars, drivers, pit crews, VIPs and media all there.

15:42
Officially it's a wet track - but the sun is out now.

15:49
Cloudy...but no rain.

15:50
The grid is being cleared now - 10 minutes before the start of the race.

15:54
Kechele and Martin are ready to fire up their engines and lead the entire field onto the formation lap.

15:56
Formation lap underway - we're hearing of some sort of damage inflicted to the Gulf Racing McLaren #69 on the grid. More on that later!

15:59
Safety car and lead cars at the Bus Stop.

16:00
Green!!!

16:00
Four wheels off the track for Martin - as he takes the lead from Kechele at the top of Eau Rouge.

16:04
One of the cars into the pit - the Ferrari of Toni Vilander it seems to be.

16:05
Has rejoined at the back of the grid - not the best way to start a 24 hour race.

16:07
Quiet start for the #1 WRT Audi - Mies down to sixth after two laps from a start position of third.

16:07
Jelley and Tappy both into the pit for their penalties.

16:10
Frank Kechele 1 second behind Maxime Martin at the moment. Alvaro Parente another five seconds further behind in third. Maxime Soulet overtakes Christopher Mies for seventh.

16:11
Incident involving car #70 (Race Art BMW) - no further action.

16:11
Christodoulou gets eighth from Mies with a brave move in the Lapidus Racing McLaren.

16:13
Stephane Lemeret is another to lose ground in the early stages - down to 14th from fifth after five laps in the DB Motorsport BMW.

16:16
Nico Verdonck looks to be on terms with the #88 Von Ryan McLaren of Alvaro Parente and is closing on third in the #5 Boutsen-Ginion Racing McLaren, but only at the rate of a few hundredths per lap.

16:17
Bernd Schneider is going well in 11th in the Preci-Spark Mercedes SLS after its overnight rebuild.

16:20
Martin is unable to pull out a gap on Kechele - although the two leaders have pulled out eight seconds on third - and the they remain separated by just over a second.

16:23
Uwe Alzen in the Haribo Porsche is now right with Peter Kox's Reiter Lamborghini in their fight for fifth.

16:23
"All cars must have their lights on - track is wet"

16:25
Update on the #69 McLaren startgrid damage: Jamie Campbell-Walter stopped on the grid, opened the gullwing door of his McLaren and that was then hit by the Preci-Spark Mercedes. Fortunately the team had enough time to repair it before the grid was cleared.

16:25
Alzen gets the place at Les Combes. Maxime Soulet tries to follow through in the #74 ProSpeed Porsche but Kox closes the door.

16:26
Slow Black Falcon Mercedes #18 on track - Bleekemolen passed by several other cars.

16:27
Bonnet on the #21 MTECH Ferrari loose

16:29
- Left rear damage on the #83 Porsche - shredded wheel arch and bodywork.
- #18 pushed back into the box by the Black Falcon team

16:30
Rob Bell is making steady progress in the #9 Gulf Racing McLaren - up to 34th from 51st after 11 laps.

16:32
Jeroen Bleekemolen: "Car is stuck in second gear, the problem we had all weekend returned after half an hour of racing. Sure we will be back, but a podium finish is impossible now."

16:32
Schneider up into the top ten at the expense of Mies' Audi.

16:34
Soulet has found a way past Kox and now Christodoulou is threatening the LP600+.

16:36
Gap between Martin and Kechele still only 1.5 seconds after 15 laps of racing here.

16:36
Rob Bell - after several laps in the 2:26/2:27 range - has suddenly posted the fastest S1 time of the race so far.

16:39
Van Lagen has spun the Race Art BMW #70 - but has rejoined.

16:39
Traffic is now working against the Marc VDS BMW leader, with Kechele closing to within a second for the first time.

16:41
The car holding up Martin is the Toni Vilander AF Corse Ferrari - exactly a lap down after his earlier stop - which is itself lapping slower cars. Marc VDS are not amused.

16:43
The #14 KRK SLS of Koen Wauters is knocked into the gravel by the #37 DB Motorsport BMW of Jochen Habets, which suffers a puncture as a result. The Merc is recovered without much delay - no more than two minutes.

16:44
Martin has found a way past Vilander and has the lead back up to 1.6s.

16:46
Koen Wauters returns to the pit after being pulled from the gravel trap.

16:46
Mark Blundell in the #23 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS ultra has just taken 41st position from the older GT3 Racing Audi of Aaron Scott.

16:49
Rob Bell moves up to 28th with a lap that includes another fastest first sector time.

16:53
Frank Kechele pits after just 52 minutes - isn't that a bit early?

16:53
MTECH makes an early stop - Griffin gets out and Duncan Cameron gets in; and presumably the front bonnet gets some attention.

16:55
It transpires that the two McLarens that had to serve a stop/go in the opening laps had had to be stationary for two minutes and lost a lap as a result.

16:58
The KRK SLS has been in the pits for some time now and losing laps. Wauters looked to have handling difficulties after the earlier collision and may have suffered more damage than was immediately apparent.

16:58
#6 Audi pits with damage - André Lotterer reporting someone 'got into him'.

17:00
That 'someone' was the #62 Lapidus Racing McLaren of Adam Christodoulou, making a late entry into the pit and clipping the nose of the Audi. McLaren hit the wall - but continued (into the pit).

17:00
One hour completed.