WRT Audi in Control at Halfway in Suzuka

Photo: Dirk Bogaerts/SRO

Audi Sport Team WRT holds control of the Suzuka 10 Hours at the halfway mark.

Dries Vanthoor is out front of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli round, with a 30-second lead over the No. 912 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Dirk Werner.

Werner is one of several cars that are on an alternate pit strategy, after the call to stay out during the race’s only Full Course Yellow and safety car period in the third hour.

The pole-sitting No. 42 Team Schnitzer BMW M6 GT3 of Nick Yelloly runs in third, ahead of the No. 35 KCMG Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Katumasa Chiyo, who has come under attack by the No. 999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Maro Engel.

Markus Winkelhock in the Absolute Racing Audi, meanwhile, has dropped to sixth in his stint.

Contact between the No. 999 GruppeM Mercedes and Kamui Kobayashi’s Goodsmile Racing Mercedes in the fourth hour saw the Japanese entry drop back the running order, and now in the midst of a fight with the No. 107 Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 of Jules Gounon.

Trouble continued to hit the No. 108 Bentley, which returned to the garage after an earlier toe-link failure, while Oliver Jarvis’ KCMG Nissan lost more than four laps with issues as well.

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