Ferrari factory drivers James Calado and Nicklas Nielsen lead the 1812km Qatar with an hour gone, with both enjoying a small lead over the rest of the field.
Nielsen, in the #50 Ferrari 499P, took second off Kevin Magnussen, in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, at the start. The Dane tried to challenge Calado, who started the sister #51 Ferrari on pole, but couldn’t quite manage it.
Since then, the two have led the race, with Nielsen enjoying a gap of around seven seconds to Julien Andlauer, who pitted early off-kilter with everyone.
He has just under a second on the #20 BMW of Robin Frijns, the car which was started by Rene Rast.
Fifth is the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, the satellite effort, of Robert Kubica.
Magnussen’s FCY issues
Magnussen started second and dropped to third when Nielsen overtook him. He remained third until the first full course yellow of the race.
When the race went green again, the speed limiter that controls a car’s speed under yellow did not correctly un-engage, causing the Dane to drop him third to ninth until he managed to get the car back up speed. At the first round of pitstops, he handed the car over to Raffaele Marciello, and now runs 15th.
JOTA-run Cadillacs fall back
The two JOTA-run Cadillacs started fourth and fifth, with Will Stevens in the #12 and Earl Bamber in the #38. Stevens was tagged by a fast-starting Habsburg at turn 1, who went from ninth to fourth, putting the Cadillac back to 12th.
Bamber ran fifth, behind Habsburg, until the Austrian overtook him. However, while passing James Cottingham’s #59 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3, he misjudged the space available, with bronze-rated Cottingham inadvertently tagging the Cadillac. Bamber spun and was relegated back to 17th.
As such, Bamber now runs sixth after the pitstops, and Stevens 12th. The two Toyotas, Mike Conway in the #7 is ahead of Sebastien Buemi in the #8. Ferdinand Habsburg is back where he started in ninth, while the #93 Peugeot of Paul di Resta is tenth.
McLaren 1-2 in LMGT3
In LMGT3, United Autosports lead 1-2, with James Cottingham in the #59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo ahead of teammate Darren Leung in the sister #95.
They started 1-2 but were soon overtaken Arnold Robin in the #78 Lexus RC F GT3. Robin extended a small lead to the McLarens, but he lost this at the pitstops with the McLarens retaking their 1-2.
Cottingham has a 3.6 second lead on Leung, who has a 7 second lead over Robin in the #378 ASP Lexus. Fourth is Ahmad Al Harthy in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3, while fifth is the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
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