Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 Toyota GR010 leads the 6 Hours of Spa with two hours to go, the third round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship.
He’s just over 10 seconds ahead of Ryo Hirakawa in the sister #8 Toyota, which started at the back but has made its way to the front of the field.
The race started wet, giving Ferrari a 1-2, but Lopez’s teammate Conway took the lead back after an early safety car as the track, which was damp at the start, dried out. The Ferraris on wets then dropped back, and suffered further with tyre warmup issues.
In third is Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari 499P, who has recently passed the #5 Porsche of Dane Cameron. Molina has also got back on the lead lap after dropping down early on amid tyre issues and the weather.
A safety car period, to clear up a crash between the #4 Vanwall of Jacques Villenueve and the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of silver-rated Francesco Castellaci, has grouped the cars together, closing gaps of around a minute each between the two Toyotas.
With Cameron fourth behind Molina, Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R is fifth, with the three only separated by a matter of seconds.
Sixth is the sister #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi, while Paul di Resta is in the first of the Peugeots, in the #93 9X8. The #38 JOTA Porsche 963 is eighth in its first race, with the #708 Glickenhaus 708 closing out the leading Hypercar pack, with Olivier Pla two laps down.
Leading the LMP2 field, in 10th overall, is Ferdinand Habsburg in the #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson. Second is Mirko Bortolotti in the #63 Prema Oreca 07-Gibson, while Oliver Jarvis is third in the #23 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson. These three are separated by less than three seconds after the latest safety car period.
Habsburg previously lost the lead to WRT’s sister car, the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, with Deletraz briefly taking the lead after Habsburg had to back off when a GTE left the pits on cold tyres and the Austrian had to brake before Eau Rouge.
In GTE-Am, Alessio Rovera leads in the #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, having recently taken over from Lilou Wadoux. Zach Robichon lies second in the #88 Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19, while Rahel Frey is third behind the wheel of the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19.
