Both McLarens pitted early in the second hour of the Gulf 12 Hours, first Peter Kox in the #60, then third-place runner Rob Bell in the #59. Kox handed over to Nico Pronk, while Estre took over the #59. Race leader Bleekemolen and second-place man Rugolo came in together a short while later, as did the #4 and #5 Ferraris.
Khalid Al-Qubaisi and Steve Wyatt stepped into the #1 Mercedes and #3 Ferrari respectively, emerging in first and second place at the start of lap 35, while Estre was running third and rapidly catching the two gentlemen drivers. Before he caught them, Wyatt took the lead from Al-Qubaisi briefly, but then lost it again. Wyatt then put up a spirited defensive drive as he came under attack from Estre’s McLaren for a few laps, but the Frenchman inevitably found a way past.
There was more trouble for the #43 STP Porsche in the form of a front-right puncture, while elsewhere the #48 Wolf finally rejoined after a 45-minute-plus delay, 35 laps down, but then pitted again almost immediately. The ISR Audi remained in the pits as the crew attempted to source a replacement rear wing for the R8 damaged by Aditya Patel’s early off.
With 42 laps in the bag, Estre had closed to within two-tenths of Al-Quabaisi’s Mercedes, and got ahead by the time they began lap 43 to become the race’s third different leader. By the time they came round again, he was 3.6 seconds ahead of the Emirati driver, and the gap was up another two seconds the following tour as Estre really turned up the wick.
Wyatt held third at this point, about two seconds in arrears of Al-Qubaisi, with Andrea Rizzoli leading Pro-Am and holding fourth overall in the #5 AF Corse Ferrari.
Fifth was Hubert Haupt in the #2 Mercedes started by Muscat, ahead of Vadim Gitlin in the #11 Kessel Ferrari started by Frezza. Bellaross in the #45 Avelon Wolf continued to lead CN2, with Ilya Melnikov mantaining the #33 MRS Porsche’s lead of the GTC class established by Engelhart in the first hour.
That’s how the field looked heading into the second hour, with four hours to go until the end of the first segment of the race and the next round of pitstops due shortly. By lap 52, Estre’s lead was up to 17 seconds over Al-Qubaisi’s Mercedes.
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