After 4 Hours in Mexico: Porsche comfortable at front as Ferrari and Aston Martin battle thrills in LMGTE Pro

Two thirds of the way through the 6 Hours of Mexico Presented by AT&T and the forecast rain which threatened to disrupt the race has so far held off.

Porsche’s 919 Hybrids are continuing to hold strong at the head of the field, with the two Toyotas circulating closely together but a lap adrift from the leading two.

In the fight for the GT World Championship between Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche, the Italian and British marques are currently in first and second places in LMGTE Pro, and there have been some fantastic, hot battles between many competitors but especially between the No.51 Ferrari of James Calado and No.66 Ford of Olivier Pla.

LMP2 has had some equally heated competition on offer for fans and TV spectators alike, and the top three in class are the No.31 Vaillante Rebellion, No.36 Signatech Alpine Matmut and No.24 CEFC Manor TRS Racing.  The battle in LMGTE Am has swung in the direction of the No.77 Dempsey Proton Porsche which now has a healthy lead over the No.98 Aston Martin.

The Headlines after 4 hours

•    Earl Bamber stretches lead in third and fourth hours after penalty for No.1 Porsche after Nick Tandy speeds in pit lane
•    Gap extends to 27-seconds as clock ticks past four hours
•    Timo Bernhard and Neel Jani take over cars for race to the flag but No.2 enjoys a 26-second lead
•    Toyota’s fall a lap behind their rivals as No.8 TS 050 HYBRID of Kazuki Nakajima heads Jose-Maria Lopez driven No.7 car
•    Julian Canal consolidates No.31 Vaillante Rebellion LMP2 lead with assured double stint
•    Advantage for Vaillante Rebellion  is 34-seconds over Signatech Alpine
•    G-Drive Racing fighting with No.24 for third position in LMP2
•    Epic on-track battle between Gustavo Menezes and Roman Rusinov thrills the crowd
•    Ben Hanley takes over in cockpit of CEFC Manor TRS car and closes on Signatech Alpine of Andre Negrao
•    G-Drive Racing LMP2 car slips back to fourth position in class
•    LMGTE Pro fight rages as No.71 AF Corse Ferrari and No.95 Aston Martin are never more than 5-seconds apart in struggle for supremacy
•    Bird leads Sorensen by 2-seconds just before third scheduled stop
•    Tough mid-race section for No.51 AF Corse Ferrari as clash with No.66 Ford GT sees both lose time
•    No.66 Ford GT awarded two drive-through penalties for earlier collision
•   More problems for No.51 AF Corse Ferrari strike just before end of fourth hour as it suffers a tyre problem before limping back around to pits losing several positions
•    Dempsey Proton Porsche extends lead in LMGTE Am as Matteo Cairoli completes impressive double stint before handing back over to Christian Ried
•    No.98 Aston Martin falls back after excursion for Paul Dalla Lana who is also warned for track limit violations
•    Gulf Racing Porsche third with Mike Wainwright back in cockpit