2 Hour Report from Spa-Francorchamps

Dramatic opening two hours of the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps sees incident, safety car, heavy rain and two red flags within first 90-minutes

Toyota place 1-2 early stages after clearing Glickenhaus pole-sitting car. But race turns on its head after 70-minutes when red flag flies.

Upon re-start the leading Toyota GR010 Hybrid driven by Sebastien Buemi struggles to leave grid and then stops terminally with suspected hybrid problems.

No.7 Toyota driven by Mike Conway takes up the lead until he pits and Robin Frijns goes to top of leaderboard in WRT LMP2 car. But race red flagged for second time because of heavy rain.

Porsche GT Team lead LMGTE Pro class with No.92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Kevin Estre.

The Headlines after 2 Hours at Spa: 

Hypercar  

·       Glickenhaus 007LMH car leads from first ever WEC pole position as Olivier Pla leads field away

·       But Toyotas forge their way to the front after 35 minuets of the race as first Sebastien Buemi in No.8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid and then Mike Conway in No.7 car run 1-2

·       Buemi and Conway continue to run at front after first pit stops.

·       Red Flag for crashed ARC Bratislava car comes after 70-minutes but upon resumption the No.8 Toyota stops several times and then parks at exit of Pouhon

·       Long safety car period ensues as Buemi’s Toyota is recovered from the scene

·       More drama follows as Glickenhaus of Olivier Pla spins at Bus Stop in damp conditions but then resumes in third position

·       Alpine ELF Team place is second in Hypercar as Andre Negrao stays within range of Glickenhaus in first two hours and then capitalises after Pla’s spin under safety car

LMGTE Pro  

·       Porsche GT Team lead with No.92 car driven by Kevin Estre but race opens with dramatic incident at La Source

·       Estre dives inside pole-sitting No.91 Porsche 911 RSR of Gimmi Bruni but contact is made giving Bruni a puncture

·       Pit-stop means Bruni slips a lap behind and forced into a recovery drive

·       Bruni in No.91 Porsche 919 RSR-19 sets a session best of 2m14.301s

·       AF Corse Ferrari place second and third with No.51 car of Alessandro Pier Guidi leading No.52 488 GTE Evo of Miguel Molina

·       Corvette Racing ran second in first hour but get compromised by red flag and get stuck in pits

·       The No.64 re-emerges in fourth position with Nick Tandy still at the wheel

·       Recovering No.91 Porsche is fifth in class but still one lap down on sister car in the lead

LMP2   

·       Antonio Felix da Costa leaps into the lead at the start and makes large gap to field in No.38 JOTA Oreca-Gibson

·       Fantastic long battle for second position rages between Sean Geleal’s WRT car and the Prema Orlen Team car driven by Lorenzo Colombo

·       Colombo eventually makes it through before the red flag but car slips to third in safety car and pit stop shake-out

·       Vector Sport make one less pit stop and head the class briefly with Ryan Cullen in the lead overall and in LMP2 until he stops

·       At the two hour mark Robin Frijns leads class and overall after taking over from Sean Gelael

·       Prema Orlen Team second as Robert Kubica takes over from Colombo

·       United Autosports USA are third and fourth with No.22 heading No.23 entry

·       AF Corse leads the Pro/Am division with Francois Perrodo at the wheel of No.83 car

LMGTE Am   

·       TF Sport initially consolidates pole position in LMGTE Am category as Ben Keating takes the lead but is soon overtaken by Paul Dalla Lana in the No.98 Northwest Aston Martin

·       But Keating re-takes lead with a dramatic move on outside of Pouhon

·       Lead changes again as No.21 AF Corse Ferrari of Toni Vilander surges through to run at the front up until the Red Flag and then Safety Car period as third hour approaches

·       Pit stops ensures that No.46 Team Project 1 Porsche takes turn in the lead with Nicolas Leutwiler leading the No.21 Ferrari now driven by Christoph Ulrich

·       But Leutwiler pits just before red flag and hands lead back to Ulrich

·       No.98 Northwest Aston Martin is second ahead of No.54 AF Corse Ferrari in third

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