There was carnage in the opening seconds of the 24-hour epic when the LMP2 class cars hurtled into the infield.

The #11 TDS Racing car driven by Toby Lutke was the first to go spinning as he lost control in the braking zone.

Lutke collided with Naveen Rao in the #18 ERA Motorsports entry, who, in turn, hit George Kurtz in the #04 Crowdstrike Racing car.

All three cars went spinning, and several more were forced to take evasive action.

The #2 United Autosports car, driven by Phil Fayer and shared with Hunter McElrea, Ben Hanley, and Mikkel Jensen, avoided the initial melee, only to find itself in strife in a bizarre second incident.

Having run wide into the Turn 1 run-off, Fayer sped back towards the track and clipped Lutke as he tried to turn his car around.

Fayer spun and wound up facing the wrong way as the GTD Pro and GTD cars blew by.

The #2 car was forced to pit at the end of the first lap and was taken behind the wall for repairs, eventually returning to the race towards the end of the first hour.

However, just shy of the fourth hour, the car was brought back behind the pit wall with suspected drive shaft issues.

“After trying to play catch up, the #2 car returns behind the wall with suspected drive shaft damage, following on from the race start incident,” wrote United Autosports.

“The crew are back in the garage working hard to repair and rejoin the remaining 21 hours of the race.”

With 20 hours and 20 minutes remaining in the race, the #2 United Autosports LMP2 entry is 35 laps down on the leaders.