6 Hours of Silverstone – half race update

Rolling start

TOYOTA Racing started the season opening 6 Hours of Le Mans at the best possible position, with both cars qualifying on the front row. At half race distance, car #8 is P3, #7 is P4. Read more after the break.

Starting from pole at a windy Silverstone, #7 Alex Wurz led the pack into the first corner from our #8 car with Anthony Davidson at the wheel. Alex ran wide on lap 6 at Club Corner to allow one of the Audis to take the lead. Both cars held position in P3 and P4 for #7 and #8 respectively before Anthony overtook Alex one lap later switching positions.

Around lap 20, rain started falling on the circuit. The leading Audis pitted, moving Anthony into the lead and Alex in P2. Our cars came in for their first stops soon after. With 33 laps completed after the first hour, #8 car was P3, #7 was P4.

Car #8 pit stop

Next round of stops saw the positions swapping again. Nicolas Lapierre took over from Alex Wurz in #7 on lap 48 while Anthony Davidson handed over to Stéphane Sarrazin in car #8 one lap later.

Coming out from the pits, #8 was down to P5 but returned to P4 one lap later, overtaking fellow Toyota-powered Rebellion Racing.

A short but heavy rain shower on lap 73 saw Nico taking on an extra pit stop to switch tyres. At first Nico took on intermediates as the rain got worse, but soon returned to change back to slicks.

By half race distance, both cars completed 97 laps Stéphane in car #8 P3, 29 seconds behind leader, Nico in #7 in P4 1 lap down with two extra stops.

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