BMW and Toyota Undercut Alpine and Cadillac to Lead the 6 Hours of Spa at Halfway Mark

BMW Leads 6 Hours of Spa at Halfway MarkNurPhoto - Getty Images

Loic Duval was hot off the starting line to lead following his teammate Malthe Jakobsen securing the maiden pole for No. 94 Peugeot 9X8, but the lead was short-lived as Will Stevens in the No. 12 Hertz JOTA V-Series. R Cadillac took the lead heading into Les Combes on the opening lap of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francochamps.

The No. 12 Cadillac would dominate the first half of the race after taking the lead, but at the halfway mark, it ran fourth behind the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8, No. 8 Toyota TR010, and No. 35 Alpine A424 after the first two pitted early to set an alternative strategy, and the latter beat them off the second pit cycle.

"The start went exactly as I hoped, Stevens told the broadcast following the first drivers' change. "Obviously starting second here, it's nice to get the tow down to T five, which exactly what we wanted. So from that point of view, it went perfectly. And then it's just about trying to manage tire deg. Obviously, it's a lot hotter here today. Conditions we've not driven in yet this week. It's our first long run this week for us on the medium compound as well. So a little bit into the unknown, but it's where we felt comfortable. I mean, you needed to manage the gaps that we had always had at Spa, and it's tricky managing traffic."

Just 14 minutes into the first hour, Eric Powell, in the No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVO, hit the gravel on a wide turn, lost control, and beached his car in the gravel pit. The No. 77 Ford Mustang briefly led before the incident.

The race resumed with 15 minutes remaining in the opening hour.

The No. 35 Alpine driven by Ferdinand Habsburg made a great pass on Duval in the bus stop to steal second from the other French manufacturer.

The No. 36 Alpine lined up to try and make a similar pass but couldn’t follow the sister car through.

While the No. 12 Cadillac led early, the N0. 38 JOTA Cadillac suffered. On the opening laps, Earl Bamber tried to split the Alpines that started on the second row, before settling back into fifth. Later in the hour, Bamber made contact with the N0. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Eco of Yasser Shahin. A puncture to the left-rear tire sent Bamber to the pits.

The No. 19 Genesis Magma Racing Hypercar, in it's second race, was in the pits around the same time with a braking issue.