Toyota Leads, Audi Crashes Out at Halfway Mark

Photo: FIA WEC

With the race settling into a pace, and heavy rain staying away, Toyota has remained out front at the halfway mark of the Six Hours of Silverstone.

The No. 8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Nicolas Lapierre holds a one-lap lead over the sister No. 7 entry of Kaz Nakajima in second, with Brendon Hartley running in a solid third aboard the No. 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Audi’s day went from bad to worse just at the three-hour point when Benoit Treluyer spun and crashed his No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro while running in fourth.

Despite a valiant effort to get the car back to the pits, having ripped off damaged front bodywork, the Frenchman was forced to give up after the car wouldn’t steer out of the gravel trap.

Treluyer’s accident brought out the first safety car period of the race, with two hours and 45 minutes remaining.

It marked a double retirement for Audi, as the No. 1 entry of Lucas Di Grassi was forced out due to chassis damage from an accident in the rain-soaked opening hour.

As a result, the No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota has regained fourth, while the LMP2 class-leading No. 47 KCMG Oreca 03 Nissan of Matt Howson is in fifth overall.

Porsche continues to lead the way in GTE-Pro, with the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR of Joerg Bergmeister holding a narrow lead over teammate Marco Holzer, with the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari in third after being forced to serve a stop and go penalty for overtaking under yellow.

GTE-Am is paced by the No. 81 AF Corse Ferrari of Steve Wyatt, ahead of Christoffer Nygaard’s No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage in second.

Track conditions have remained dry for the most part, although there still looms a chance of rain before the checkered flag.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John