Antonio Giovinazzi of the #51 Ferrari 499P led after three hours at the FIA World Endurance Championship‘s Qatar 1812 km season-opener.
The pole-sitter headed the field of 34 cars running with three hours completed and seven hours remaining at the Lusail International Circuit.
Into the second racing hour, the leading factory Ferrari 499P Hypercars maintained their formation after the first round of pit stops.
AF Corse conducted smooth pit stops to coincide with the strong running by the #51 Ferrari ahead of the #50.
The #5 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar pitted early on during the opening hour due to a slow puncture.
During which, the team changed the front-right tyre and so with Julien Andlauer at the wheel, he ran in third place.
Meanwhile the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie returned to the track after the team installed another right-side door albeit with Alex Riberas instead of Harry Tincknell.
Peugeot ran a promising effort in the points threshold until Paul Di Resta (#93 Peugeot 9X8) served a drive-through penalty for a full-course-yellow procedure infringement.
Nevertheless, the Scotsman emerged back in 12th place behind his #94 Peugeot team-mate Loic Duval.
After starting in last place due to their qualifying mishap, the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid (Sebastien Buemi) ran up in sixth place ahead of the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, although Buemi had a close moment with Thomas Flohr’s #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 when they negotiated a corner together.
Raffaele Marciello of the #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 pulled off a move on Di Resta into what was 10th position, as Dries Vanthoor replaced Marciello at the next pit stop after carrying out a single stint.
Disaster for JOTA aids Ferrari Hypercar trio’s lead
The first virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed due to Christian Reid’s stranded #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3.
Ferrari maintained their form but it was the two JOTA Cadillac V-Series.Rs which were at the centre of attention.
On the return to green flag racing, on Lap 75/2-hours-and-24-minutes into the 10-hour race, Alex Lynn of the #12 Cadillac misjudged Jenson Button’s #38 Cadillac as they prepared to restart.
Button braked after seemingly putting the power down, thus prompting Lynn to hit into the rear end of the #12 – which suffered significant front-end bodywork damage.
Both Cadillacs subsequently pitted as the mechanics performed repairs on each, including a new rear deck and end for the #38 as Lynn took in another front end replacement. Lynn exited the pits ahead of Button, both towards the back of the Hypercar field.
This meant that the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Yifei Ye jumped from P5 into P3, thus making it a 1-2-3 for Ferrari in the Hypercar category.
Ye set fast lap times after another restart, more successful in resuming the green flag action, as he set personal bests with the leading #51 driven by Giovinazzi.
With seven hours remaining, Giovinazzi led Antonio Fuoco with Ye in third. Robin Frijns held P4 in the #20 BMW ahead of Brendon Hartley’s #8 Toyota.
Unfortunate timing as this was, Fuoco lost his second place due to contact with the #15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor as Giovinazzi was awarded a drive-through for a FCY procedure infringement, gifting Ye (#83 Ferrari) the lead – all soon after the third hour passed.*
Lexus leads, McLarens pressured by WRT
Meanwhile in the LMGT3 category, the front-row McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evos – run by United Autosports – regained the lead after Arnold Robin’s #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 pitted and resided in third place behind the pair.
Spurred on with pace and determination, Robin set about closing the gap to Darren Leung’s #95 McLaren in front of him.
The Lexus demonstrated great form thus far in the race, having only lost a dominant lead during the pit stop sequence, whilst the #87 retired after contact earlier on.
Ahmed Al Harthy of the #46 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO closed down the gap on Robin’s Lexus. The top-four were within two seconds of each other, as the LMGT3 lead fight continued to intensify between the group.
At 1hour-and-45-minutes in, Leung submits to Al Harthy’s pressure who passed on inside line, the #95 McLaren inviting the #46 BMW in doing so.
During the next pit stop sequence, Al Harthy jumped both McLarens and entered second place as a result, with Robin having stayed out noticeably longer in the lead.
Reid lost the rear end of his Mercedes-AMG and beached himself into a gravel trap. The Iron Lynx team were suffering issues with both cars, though not surprising for their first WEC race with the machinery.
After three hours, Fenn Gehrisitz led the LMGT3 field in the #78 Lexus as James Cottingham followed in the #59, with Leung pitting.
Al Harthy held third for WRT as Ben Tuck resided fourth for the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3, as Simon Mann’s #21 AF Corse Ferrari rounded the top-five.
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