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Buemi Leads Opening Hour in Shanghai

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Sebastien Buemi leads the Six Hours of Shanghai following a frantic opening hour that has seen drama for the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Buemi holds a 16.248-second advantage over the No. 2 Porsche of Earl Bamber, with both cars having taken fuel-only on its first round of pit stops.

Toyota Gazoo Racing ran 1-2 prior to the stops, but a tire and driver change for the No. 8 car to Kamui Kobayashi has dropped the car to third.

Jose Maria Lopez spun on Lap 15 after contact with the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07 Gibson, which dropped the pole-sitting No. 7 car to third at the time.

The No. 1 Porsche, meanwhile, runs in fourth, more than 90 seconds behind after Nick Tandy slowed on-track with throttle issues. The Englishman returned to full speed after rebooting the system, without having to make an unscheduled stop.

LMP2 has been led by the class pole-sitting No. 31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca of Bruno Senna from the start, with the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR of Kevin Estre and Mathias Lauda’s No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE pacing GTE-Pro and GTE-Am, respectively. 

The GTE-Pro class saw an early scrap between entries from Ford, Ferrari and Aston Martin.

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

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