Monza 2 Hours: Toyota leads Alpine at Monza; Porsche edging Ferrari in LMGTE Pro

However, there was drama after 1hr35mins as Brendon Hartley suffered several issues and dropped out of contention with long pit-stops leaving the No.7 alone at front. 
 
In the LMGTE Pro class Kevin Estre opened up a small advantage in his Porsche 911 RSR-19 over the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo car of Alessandro Pierguidi. Cars split by just 1.3s after two hours.
 
Below are the main headlines from the race’s opening two hours…
     
Hypercar  
•    No.7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid Hypercar leads first two hours from pole position as Mike Conway opens up gap from No.8 car started by Sebastien Buemi 
•    Brendon Hartley and Jose-Maria Lopez swaps seats after 90 minutes but drama for No.8 as Hartley hits problems on his out lap 
•    Hartley tours back to the pits but drops back down to fifth overall as car is wheeled back in pit 
•    Kiwi rejoins but then experiences massive lock-up at first chicane and then slows before pitting again and losing more time 
•    Alpine Elf Matmut run third as Andre Negrao and then Matthieu Vaxiviere make solid progress to take advantage of Hartley’s issue to grab second  
•    No.709 Glickenhaus 007 LMH runs well in third position as Richard Westbrook and Franck Mailleux show strong pace in first two hours 
•    Pipo Derani hits spark plug issue in opening exchanges in No.708 Glickenhaus but recovers after unscheduled pit-stop to run fourth 

Siamo pronti a fare la storia! La nostra prima volta nel Templo della Velocita. Forza #WEC drivers, we are green in Monza!

Watch: https://t.co/54YkPITfvh#6HMonza pic.twitter.com/Gb1nKRkxBn

— WEC (@FIAWEC) July 18, 2021

LMGTE Pro  
•    Kevin Estre drives faultless first two stints to lead LMGTE Pro class but under heavy pressure throughout by Alessandro Pier Guidi in No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE  
•    Pier Guidi applies massive pressure before second pit stop as cars then pit together 
•    Neel Jani takes over from Estre as James Calado replaces teammate Pier Guidi and battle resumes with Jani enjoying 1.3s lead 
•    No.52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo driven by Miguel Molina places third by 15-seconds behind the battling front two 
•    No.91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 started by Gimmi Bruni battled with No.52 Ferrari but suffered some front bodywork damage after slight contact with already crashing Cetilar Racing LMGTE Am Ferrari.  

LMP2  
•    Phil Hanson gets drop on Robin Frijns at start as United Autosports USA lead Team WRT for first 90-minutes 
•    Hanson hands over to teammate Filipe Albuquerque but WRT emerge ahead with Ferdinand Habsburg holding a 5-second advantage 
•    Racing Team Nederland place third with Nyck de Vries and then Frits van Eerd driving in the first two hours  
•    Van Eerd loses out to No.28 JOTA car of Sean Gelael just before two hour mark and runs fourth but also first in Pro/Am  
•    Stoffel Vandoorne fights back through from rear of grid after qualifying accident to run fifth
•    Real Team Racing car spun out of position by Inter Europol entry driven by Alex Brundle, which gets penalty for incident 

We are under safety car after the @OfficialTFSport #33 has experienced a high speed puncture. Marshals are now clearing the track from carbon debris left by the Vantage AMR.#WEC #6HMonza pic.twitter.com/PaXMWLVPFp

— WEC (@FIAWEC) July 18, 2021

LMGTE Am
•    TF Sport Aston Martin leads impressively for much of first hour as Ben Keating leads Ferrari train 
•    No.83 AF Corse car enjoys phenomenal first stint as Alessio Provera cuts through field after technical infringement relegated them to back of grid. 
•    Francois Perrodo takes over and spends some time in lead but is caught again by Keating, who takes over at front again 
•    No.56 Team Project 1 Porsche driven by Riccardo Pera places second after also taking Perrodo 
•    Cetilar Racing ran third as Roberto Lacorte maintained touch with leaders but car damaged after accident at second Lesmo. Re-joins in 14th place after losing three laps for repairs 
•    No.88 Dempsey Proton Porsche driven by Andrew Haryanto loses time with spin at Variante Roggia that triggers brief Full Course Yellow