No. 93 Peugeot Drops Off Lead Lap After Stoppage

Both Peugeots encountered trouble shortly after each other with two hours completed in the 8 Hours if Bahrain, with the leading car of Paul di Resta dropping off the lead lap as a result.

Both the No. 93 and No. 94 Peugeot 9X8s stopped on track within ten minutes of each other.

Paul di Resta, who had been running in third position behind the two Toyotas, came to a halt in the grass at turns 2 and 3 first, with the Scottish driver reporting over the radio that the gearbox was ‘completely broken’.

Di Resta’s stoppage led to a Full Course Yellow but eventually managed to return to the pits and spent four minutes in the pits before rejoining. The car returned to the track in the hands of Jean-Eric Vergne, having set the fastest lap of race with the Frenchman at the wheel.

Not long after the sister car’s stoppage, Nico Mueller also stopped on track in the No. 94 car but he was able to resume and has retained third place overall.

The Swiss driver now sits behind the pair of Toyotas, with the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley nearly five seconds clear of the sister car driven by Mike Conway.

In LMP2, Phil Hanson leads the class in the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson, leading Team WRT’s Rene Rast and the sister car piloted by Oliver Jarvis.

Vector Sport’s Renger van der Zande has dropped away somewhat to fourth after a mishap for the Dutch driver, accidentally engaging the pit speed limiter while closing in on the No. 23 Oreca, which was then in the hands of Josh Pierson.

The order in GTE-Pro has been shaken up by an earlier full course yellow, caused by a puncture for the No. 71 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Franck Dezoteux.

Not long after the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco made his way to the lead, the Italian pitted before the caution alongside Porsche’s Gianmaria Bruni while Kevin Estre had also already pitted.

When the No. 51 Ferrari of James Calado and the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy then made their stops during the caution, they vaulted to first and second in class.

Pier Guidi has since taken over the leading Ferrari, with Tandy second ahead of the No. 52 Ferrari piloted by Miguel Molina. Michael Christensen is fourth in the No. 92 Porsche with Richard Lietz fifth.

Iron Dames lead GTE-Am with the No. 85 Ferrari in the hands of Rahel Frey after the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci was required to deserve a drive through penalty for contact with the No. 71 Ferrari of Dezoteux.