Lopez Establishes 15-Second Halfway Lead for No. 7 Toyota

Jose Maria Lopez led the 6 Hours of Monza at halfway for Toyota Gazoo Racing after building a 15-second advantage over Nicklas Nielsen in the second-placed Ferrari 499P.

Strong stints from Lopez, who posted the fastest lap of the race, and starting driver Mike Conway helped to bring the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to the head of the field.

Conway ran in net third early in the second hour, as the Hypercar field split into two bunches based on half a dozen cars electing to pit under an early safety car period.

The British driver battled with Michael Christensen in the No. 5 Penske Porsche 963 and Miguel Molina in the No. 50 Ferrari, and was ahead of them by the time a second safety occurred at the start of the third hour, early in Lopez’s first stint aboard the Toyota.

The interruption was caused by the Vector Sport Oreca 07 Gibson spinning into the Lesmo 2 gravel after being tagged by the No. 9 Prema Oreca.

Lopez’s net lead then developed into the actual upper hand because the timing of the safety car impacted the strategies of most who pitted early in the race, including the No. 51 Ferrari and the Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963.

At the restart, Lopez increased the distance between his Toyota and Nielsen’s Ferrari, started by Molina.

Alessandro Pier Guidi ranked third in the No. 51 Ferrari at the midway point but the Italian owed a pit stop due to his car’s off-sequence strategy.

The No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 that led the opening hour in the hands of Mikkel Jensen was third in real terms, with Jean-Eric Vergne running about 20 seconds behind Nielsen.

Dane Cameron was next in the No. 5 Penske-run Porsche, after overtaking teammate Kevin Estre into the Rettifilio chicane.

The privateer Porsche from JOTA saw a promising early run take a setback when it stopped on track for a power cycle shortly after a pit stop. It came after the electronic steering wheel display froze at the end of Antonio Felix da Costa’s stint.

United Autosports led the LMP2 class at halfway, although the Anglo-American team also saw one of its Orecas encounter trouble during the third hour.

Oliver Jarvis stood 7.8 seconds ahead of Team WRT driver Robin Frijns, while the No. 22 United car lost ground when Phil Hanson spun after contact with GTE-Am competitor Luis Perez Companc at the second Lesmo.

Dempsey-Proton Racing led GTE-Am with three hours to go, courtesy of Mikkel Pedersen who had five seconds in hand to fellow Porsche 911 RSR-19 driver Michelle Gatting.

Gatting had been defending from Corvette Racing’s Nico Varrone, whose No. 33 entry was on a recovery driver after getting a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding.

The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo that led sections of the GTE-Am race also hit trouble when it ground to a halt coming onto Curva Grande approaching three hours.