With just over an hour and a half of the first six-hour segment of today’s race remaining, Liam Talbot found himself stranded out on track in the #99 Kessel car, necessitating double-waved yellows and a live snatch to clear the way.
There were also issues for the #17 Absolute Racing Audi following a shunt for driver Jian Wei Wang that dislodged the rear wing.
Rob Bell pitted after a tough stint in the #59 McLaren that saw him lose the lead to Rugolo’s #3 Ferrari. Kevin Estre retook the wheel and immediately went on another charge to try to regain the lead. Rugolo and Bleekemolen had over a lap on him at this stage (with a pitstop owed), so a tight finish was in prospect for the first six-hour segment of the race.
Muscat pitted the #2 Mercedes from third place on lap 127, with Bleekemolen and Rugolo coming in soon after. Once the out-laps were completed (and with under an hour of the first half to go) Estre was just 10 seconds behind Wyatt and facing a similar task to what he accomplished in the second stint. However, the McLaren still had its final stop of this half of the race to make.
The two Black Falcon Mercedes of Al-Qubaisi and Haupt were now running in third and fourth, with the #11 Kessel Ferrari (now with Vadim Gitlin at the wheel) fifth. Karim Al Azhari was sixth in the consistent GT Russian Team Mercedes.
With 45 minutes to run, Estre was within striking distance of Wyatt. He retook the lead at the first corner on lap 137 and then set about ensuring the #59 car would not be left a lap down going into the second six-hour segment of the race.
As we moved into the last half hour of ‘Part One’, the order was as follows: Estre five seconds ahead of Wyatt and almost 30 seconds ahead of third-place Al-Qubaisi. Haupt, Gitlin and Al-Azhari were fourth, fifth and sixth. Flohr in the #5 AF Corse Ferrari and Felipe Barreiros in the sister #4 car were seventh and eighth, with Walkinshaw holding ninth in the #88 Dragon Ferrari. Leading the Cup class and rounding out the top 10 overall was the #33 MRS Porsche, currently with Siegried Venema driving.
As the first half of the race wound down, the ISR Audi became the first confirmed retirement, while Estre pitted to hand over to Parente. A quick stop helped the Portuguese ace get the #59 back onto the lead lap in third, behind an impressive Wyatt in the #3 Ferrari and Al-Qubaisi in the #1 Mercedes second, and that’s how the first six hours finished.
In a bit of satisfying symmetry, last year, Wyatt and Rugolo (paired with Cioci rather than Rigon) won the first half, and the debuting works car (in that case the Bentley rather than this year’s McLaren) came third. So it remains to be seen if the #1 Mercedes crew can pull of a similar feat in the second half of the race and repeat their 2013 triumph.
SE
