At the head of the field Audi held a 1-2 in the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas, with the #7 Audi leading from pole. The #8 fell back initially but recovered to second. The big surprise though was the #5 Toyota matching the both Porsches on pace, and leapfrogging the #1 919 in the pits to take the final podium spot briefly after running fourth much of the first hour. The #1 Porsche was able to snatch the place back though just before the second hour began.
In LMP2, the championship leading Alpine fell back to second at the start of the race, but managed to take back the position. Great driving from Nicolas Lapierre and Roberto Merhi in the second place Manor Oreca provided great entertainment, but a slow stop caused the Manor car to slip down to fourth. Second and third to end the hour was the RGR Ligier of Riccardo Gonzalez after taking over from Bruno Sena and the #26 G-Drive Ligier which started at the back of the field had recovered to third.
GTE Pro was a stalemate with the #95 Aston leading the #71 AF Corse Ferrari. In Am, Pedro Lamy fell to fourth from pole in the #98 Aston, only to recover to take the lead of the class after a great scrap with Kevin Estre’s #88 Abu Dhabi Porsche.
At the start the pole-sitting #7 Audi of Marcel Fassler blasted off into the distance as the #8 slipped back to third after Mark Webber in the #1 Porsche ran up the inside at Turn 1. It wasn’t long until Duval took the place back though, making it an Audi 1-2 again on Lap 2.
Behind there was a monumental scrap between the #2 Porsche and the two Toyotas of Sebastien Buemi and Mike Conway. Dumas couldn’t make anything stick and claim fourth, the Frenchman having to make an extremely aggressive defensive move on Conway to prevent the #6 Toyota from taking fifth.
After five laps of racing the Audis had a seven second lead over Webber in third.
Down in LMP2 the lead changed when Roberto Merhi drove past Nicolas Lapierre’s #36 Signatech Alpine in the scramble at the start. Third was sister Alpine of Nelson Panciatici, who muscled past Bruno Senna’s RGR Sport by Morand Ligier to take the final podium spot. Merhi was unable to drive away from Lapierre though, and the pair ran door to door for the lead on multiple occasions.
Further down the order, Alex Brundle in the G-Drive Oreca went from the very back of the grid, to 15th overall and seventh in the class in just 11 laps. An incredible drive from the Brit, out for redemption after a disastrous Qualifying performance.
The #95 Aston held station in GTE Pro, with Marco Sorensen keeping the #71 AF Corse Ferrari of Davide Rigon and #66 Ford of Stefan Mucke at bay in second and third. The #97 Aston driven by Darren Turner was close enough in the opening tours of the circuit to sniff a podium.
He eventually took the place though, as the first car to hit trouble was the #66 Ford, which was pushed back into the garage with mechanical issues after 15 minutes of racing, promoting Turner to third. The #66 did emerge from the pits though, rejoining the race many laps down after 27 minutes in the box.
GTE Am saw a costly opening lap from Pedro Lamy in the pole-car slip to fourth, and have to fight through to second again. The #98 Aston Martin clearly having the pace. In the first handful of laps though, the #88 Abu Dhabi Porsche of Kevin Estre led the way.
As the first hour reached its halfway mark, it was still all Audi at the top, with Fassler and Duval in total control. Webber held third, 16 seconds back, with Buemi trailing by a further four. Down in P2, Brundle continued his charge, and overtook Pipo Derani’s #31 ESM Ligier for fifth in the class, leaving Derani to defend from Lewis Williamson’s Strakka Racing Gibson. And as that was unfolding the Merhi lost the lead in the class to Lapierre GTE Am lead battle hotted up.
Pedro Lamy, who was able to lap much quicker than the leading Porsche in the #98 Aston, found himself all over the rear of Estre, who had to defend hard, but couldn’t hold on for long, losing the lead before the first round of stops – 40 minutes in. Bruno Senna was also piling on the pressure to his nearest rival, and also made a move in his RGR Ligier, taking third place in LMP2 off the #35 Alpine of Nelson Panciatici at Turn 1.
With 45 minutes run, the first set of pit stops began. With everyone back in sync, Andre Lotterer had climbed aboard the #7 Audi, and held the lead, with the #8, with Oliver Jarvis taking over second. The big move though, was the #5 Toyota which saw Anthony Davidson take the wheel leapfrogging the #1 Porsche to take third overall, superb work from the Toyota crew.
Davidson didn’t have much breathing room though, as Brendon Hartley fresh in the #1 ended up immediately on the attack after rejoining the race to try and take back the podium. The battle would run into the second hour, but Hartley made the move on Davidson to secure third once again. In LMP2 the Manor Oreca fell to fourth in the stops, promoting the #43 RGR Liger and #26 G-Drive Oreca to second and third. In the closing minutes there was little to report from the GTE classes.
Five hours to go.
