Toyota Leads as Rain Hits Silverstone at Halfway

Toyota is back in control of the Six Hours of Silverstone at the halfway mark, following an intermittent shower that put the then-leading Porsches on the back foot.

The No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Kazuki Nakajima holds a 36-second lead over the No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, now in the hands of Earl Bamber, with all four LMP1 contenders back on slick tires.

Bamber’s co-driver, Timo Bernhard, took over the lead in the third hour, building a 25-second margin over the No. 8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson, after the Porsche pitted for hybrid intermediate tires.

Porsche opted to bring in the No. 1 again after only a few laps for a similar tire change, while both Toyotas stayed out during in the rain.

The shower, however, was very short lived and Porsche had to call its cars back in to mount slicks again.

The No. 7 Toyota lost pace after the first hour due a suspected rear anti-roll bar issue, while Kamui Kobayashi locked up his brakes and beached the car during a rain shower and is running a lap down now.

Signatech Alpine continues to dominate the LMP2 class, with Gustavo Menezes building up a 50-second lead in the No. 36 Oreca 07 Gibson on the No. 38 Jackie Chang DC Racing Oreca.

The No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca lost ground following an extra pitstop to fix a broken door latch.

GTE-Pro has remained in control of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, with the No. 66 Ford GT leading the way ahead of the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado.

While Calado initially had let the No. 91 and No. 92 Porsche 911 RSRs go by, the Brit regained both positions during the rain shower.

The No. 98 AMR Aston Martin Vantage GTE remained unchallenged in GTE-Am, with Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda controlling the class ahead of the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing car in the hands of Matteo Cairoli.