Toyota Out Front at Halfway Mark

Photo: Vincent Wouters

Toyota leads at the halfway mark of the FIA WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

The No. 8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi has extended his advantage to nearly 30 seconds over Marc Lieb’s No. 14 Porsche 919 Hybrid, with the No. 7 Toyota of Kazuki Nakajima completing the top-three.

Buemi took over the lead in the second hour after a slow pit stop and stall for the then-leading No. 14 Porsche. The Swiss driver managed to increase the gap over the course of the two stints, aided by a fuel-only stop in the third hour.

The three Audis run fourth through sixth, unable to match either the Porsches and Toyotas on pure pace but managed to double stint their tires early on. 

Trouble continued for the No. 20 Porsche, which lost a further eight laps in the garage with a right-front suspension issue. It now runs 13th overall in the hands of Brendon Hartley. 

LMP2 continues to be led by the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Morgan-Nissan, now in the hands of Julien Canal, while Toni Vilander has retook command of GTE-Pro, ahead of the two Aston Martin Racing entries.

Paul Dalla Lana, meanwhile, leads GTE-Am in the No. 98 Aston Martin.

The race has been green from the start with no significant on-track incidents so far.

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