Toyota Leads at Halfway After Cadillac Penalty

Toyota held a narrow lead at the halfway point of the 6 Hours of Imola with Ryo Hirakawa leading Ferrari driver Alessandro Pier Guidi, after the race-leading Cadillac was handed a drive-through penalty.

The first of two safety car periods in the FIA World Endurance Championship opener, which came in the second hour after the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus parked up at the side of the track, gave the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R the tactical advantage as it pitted under the Virtual Safety Car period that precedes the full safety car.

Will Stevens passed Miguel Molina’s No. 50 Ferrari for third when the race resumed, and cycled into the lead when the two leaders, James Calado in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P and Brendon Hartley in the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid, stopped to hand over to Pier Guidi and Hirakawa respectively.

Just as the second VSC/safety car was called for WEC rookie Nick Cassidy getting the No. 93 Peugeot stuck in the gravel, the No. 12 Cadillac along with the No. 50 Ferrari in which Nicklas Nielsen took over from Molina were given drive-through penalties for a yellow flag offence.

With Hirakawa having got the jump on Pier Guidi courtesy of a pit stop five seconds faster, the Japanese driver inherited the lead and spent the remainder of the third hour with the No. 51 Ferrari filling his mirrors.

At the halfway stage the pair were split by just 0.877 seconds, with possible showers forecast for the latter part of the race.

Running seven seconds behind the leaders in third was the No. 35 Alpine A424 of Antonio Felix da Costa, ahead of Nyck de Vries in the No. 7 Toyota and Kevin Magnussen’s No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8.

Yifei Ye was sixth in the third-string No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, slipping behind both de Vries and Magnussen after the latest safety car.

Stevens ran 15th in the No. 12 Cadillac, 45 seconds off the lead, with Nielsen’s Ferrari right behind him.

In LMGT3, McLaren factory driver Marvin Kirchhoefer held a three-second advantage at the wheel of the No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo that regained the advantage at the second round of stops.

An earlier changeover from Antares Au to Kirchhoefer combined with strong pace from the German allowed the McLaren its way into the lead ahead of the No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO that had led after Anthony McIntosh passed Stefano Gattuso’s Ford Mustang on-track.

McIntosh’s co-driver Parker Thompson ran second ahead of Jonny Edgar in the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, with the No. 88 Proton Ford, now in the hands of Giammarco Levorato, having slipped to fourth.

Completing the top five at halfway was the No. 32 BMW of Sean Gelael.