Ferrari Leads after 6 Hours but Safety Car Shakes Race Up;

HYPERCAR – Leader:  No.51 Ferrari AF Corse

·      In the fifth hour Nyck de Vries had undercut the leading No.51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, driven by James Calado, just prior to the only Full Course Yellow of the race so far which was deployed to pick up bodywork shed by the No.77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang

·      But Alessandro Pier Guidi rested the temporary lead by blasting past as de Vries hit troubles that earlier had briefly afflicted team mate Kamui Kobayashi

·      The issues later intensified losing de Vries almost a minute on the leader and dropping him down to seventh position and then retirement through an issue described as a Fuel Pump problem

·      That left Pier Guidi in the lead with an 8-second advantage over the Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 driven by Callum IIott

·      IIott had jumped the No.5 Porsche Penske 963 of Frederic Makowiecki in the fifth pit-stop

·      But the event turned on its head when the No.88 Proton ford Mustang pulled off the track on fire which brought out the first Safety Car of the race

·      Under the Virtual Safety Car Pier Guidi pitted and handed over to Antonio Giovinazzi while IIott stayed in the cockpit and got track position

·      As the Safety Car pitted the bunched up field roared back in to action Giovinazzi made a move on IIott to reclaim the lead in a thrilling battle

·      The No.8 Toyota GR010 Hypercar driven by Ryo Hirakawa also appeared to have difficulties in his stints and lost pace with the leading pack

·      Placing third at the 6 hours mark was Makowiecki in the No.5 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar ahead of the No.15 BMW driven by Dries Vanthoor and the No.6 Porsche Penske of Dries’ brother Laurens

·      Completing the top six was the No.50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P with Nicklas Nielsen aiming to join the fight for the lead

·      The rest of the Top 10 was set at: 7^th No.8 Toyota; 8^th No.38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche; 9^th No.83 AF Corse Ferrari; 10^th No.36 Alpine

LM GT3 – Leader: No.85 Iron Dames

·      Sarah Bovy grabs the lead after the Safety Car stirs up the order in the LMGT3 category

·      The Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan driver hunts down long-time leader Rui Andrade in the No.81 TF Sport to make her move

·      Iron Dames are looking for back-to-back wins in Bahrain after claiming a breakthrough victory 12 months ago

·      Heart of Racing Aston Martin place second with Alex Riberas also making it past Andrade as the race goes green

·      No.59 United Autosports McLaren moves in to third position with Gregoire Saucy abord and the No.91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 RSR also vaults Andrade for fourth place

·      The rest of the Top 10 read as: 7^th Manthey PureRxcing Porsche; 8^th No.82 TF Sport Corvette; 9^th No.31Team WRT BMW; 10^th No.60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini

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