Hartley Paces 6H Nürburgring After First Hour

Photo: Vincent Wouters

Brendon Hartley leads the Six Hours of Nürburgring after the first hour, after a successful first pit stop for the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The Kiwi took over from Timo Bernhard after the opening stint.

Marcel Fassler held onto the lead at the start, but Bernhard moved his Porsche into second from third on the grid, demoting Oliver Jarvis to third.

Bernhard only had one serious attempt for the lead in the first hour, trying to make the move into Turn 1, but the German overran the corner and stayed in second.

A few minutes later, Neel Jani tried to take third from Jarvis in the first corner but the Porsche driver hit Stefan Muecke’s Ford GT and so the No. 2 Porsche spun out.

As it stands, Hartley leads Jarvis and Andre Lotterer at the front with the first hour and opening round of pit stops completed.

Jonny Kane took the LMP2 class lead after the first round of pit stops, after holding third since the start of the race in his No. 42 Strakka Racing Gibson 015S Nissan.

Alex Brundle’s G-Drive Racing Oreca 05 Nissan dropped down to second in the stops.

Nicki Thiim dropped down from pole to third on the first lap but he soon made his way back up to the front of the GTE-Pro field in his No. 95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE, with Richie Stanaway taking second for an Aston Martin Racing 1-2 after the first hour.

Muecke stayed in third despite his contact with the Porsche 919 Hybrid until Harry Tincknell overtook him in the sister Ford GT.

Patrick Long led the full hour in GTE-Am for Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing, while a similar Porsche 911 RSR was in second, with Wolf Henzler’s KCMG entry.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.