Hour 1: Toyota Shows Clean Pair of Heels to Audi

It was drama all the way in the opening hour of the 6 Hours of Silverstone. The nr7 Toyota TS030 of Alex Wurz got a good start to move ahead of the nr2 Audi R18 ultra of Tom Kristensen at the first corner. Wurz then tracked the nr1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer for the next eleven laps before taking the lead when the lead car got stuck behind some back markers. Wurz then opened up a 10 second lead before pitting for fuel on lap 22. The Audis went four laps further before refuelling on laps 26 and 27 respectively and the opening hour ended with the nr7 Toyota holding a 14.3 second lead with 39 laps completed.

The nr12 Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota of Neel Jani was the lead LMP1 privateer at the end of the first 60-minutes, 6 seconds ahead of the nr21 Strakka Racing HPD of Jonny Kane.

The LMP2 lead car was the nr44 Starworks Motorsports HPD of Stephane Sarrazin took the lead on the opening lap after the nr42 Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan of Alex Brundle had to take avoiding action at the first corner when Peter Dumbreck’s JRM got out of shape. Sarrazin ended the opening hour 7 seconds ahead of John Martin in the nr25 ADR-Delta Oreca-Nissan, with Pierre Kaffer currently in 3rd in the nr49 Pecom Racing Oreca-Nissan.

The LMGTE Pro battle was raging fiercely for the whole of the first hour with Richard Lietz holding onto the lead in the nr77 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche while Gianmaria Bruni in the nr51 AF Corse Ferrari and Darren Turner in the nr97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage were trading places, with Turner ending the opening hour ahead of the Italian.

In LM GTE Am the nr61 AF Corse Ferrari of Marco Cioci ended the hour at the front of the GTE Am category, ahead of the nr98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Stuart Hall.

Photo: TOWCESTER (NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, GREAT BRITAIN), SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, SUNDAY AUGUST 26TH 2012, RACE.