Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy saw their race come to an abrupt end after the latter was involved in a severe crash, while Dutchman Renger van der Zande made an impressive start by dominating the first hour from pole, but experienced a dramatic final phase that cost him the podium.

Van der Zande started the race strongly and maintained the lead in the opening phase, despite increasingly heavy rain. He fought fiercely with Nasr, who briefly took the lead, along with Jack Aitkin, in the Cadillac. During the third restart, Van der Zande took the lead again, and after a series of pit stops, Kaku Ohta took over the wheel.

The race saw an unprecedented number of Full Course Yellows, caused by, among other things, collisions between LMP2s and GTDs, and a severe crash by Tandy, losing control of his Porsche while braking for turn 1 and crashing at high speed into the barriers. Tandy was unhurt, but his race was over immediately.

After a series of position changes and pit strategies, Earl Bamber in the #31 Cadillac seemed on his way to victory, while Van der Zande's team was on course for the podium. However, with less than ten minutes to go, another full-course-yellow was called due to a GTD car stalling.

When the race resumed for the last two laps, the drivers tried to make it without an extra pit stop, but that proved too optimistic. The #93 Acura of Van der Zande and his teammates had to refuel, giving up a podium position in the process, with the same happening to the leader, Bamber, who also had to make a stop, giving away the victory.

Blomqvist took full advantage, with the Brit taking the lead in the #60 Acura, despite nearly running out of fuel himself. He managed to just make it to the finish, followed by Louis Deletraz in the #40 Cadillac and Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Cadillac.