Di Grassi Leads, Second Audi Retires at Halfway

The No. 8 Audi R18 Hybrid continues to lead the FIA WEC Six Hours of Fuji in the hands of Lucas Di Grassi, as the sister No. 7 entry was retired following a failure of the hybrid system.

The gap between the leading Audi and No. 6 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, now in the hands of Stéphane Sarrazin, remained consistent at around five seconds throughout the last couple of hours.

Porsche remains within striking distance with the No. 1 919 Hybrid in third, although the championship-leading No. 2 Porsche has been struggling with balance issues.

Marc Lieb currently runs fifth, more than one-minute behind the leaders, with the team opting to change the front bodywork in an attempt to sort out the issue.

Following a pitstop of more than one hour, the No. 7 Audi rejoined the track with its hybrid system disabled, but the car was retired before the halfway mark after the FIA informed the team that the car no longer conforms to its homologation.

G-Drive Racing was out front in LMP2 until it was the first in class to make its third pitstop, temporarily handing over the lead to the No. 42 Strakka Racing Gibson 015S Nissan of Lewis Williamson.

Richard Bradley in the No. 44 Manor Oreca 05 Nissan and Gustavo Menezes in the No. 36 Signatech Alpine A460 Nissan were battling heavily for third in the LMP2 class.

In GTE-Pro, the Ford GT remained in a class of its own, with the No. 67 and No. 66 driving away from the rest of the field and holding a 30-plus second advantge on the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of Gianmaria Bruni.

Mathias Lauda’s No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE now enjoys a healthy class lead over the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in GTE-Am, after Rui Aguas got a 35-second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.