Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI
James Calado led Nicklas Nielsen in the opening hour of the Qatar 1812km, which has seen commanding form from Ferrari AF Corse.
Calado, in the pole-sitting No. 51 Ferrari 499P, held a seven-second advantage over Nielsen’s No. 50 entry just prior to the first sequence of pit stops, with the No. 35 Alpine A424 of Ferdinand Habsburg third, more than 15 seconds behind the leading Ferrari.
The No. 15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen had been running third prior to a suspected electronics issue following the conclusion of the race’s first Full Course Yellow as the Dane’s speed limiter re-engaged.
It dropped Magnussen to ninth, promoting teammate Rene Rast in the No 20 BMW to fourth.
Robert Kubica completed the top-five in the third-string No. 83 Ferrari.
There was also early trouble for Earl Bamber, who spun out of fourth place while battling Magnussen and a United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
It came after Bamber had contact with teammate Will Stevens at the start that dropped the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R to 13th.
The No. 5 Penske Porsche of Julien Andlauer, meanwhile, was the first of the Hypercar entries to pit due to a slow puncture on the right-front tire, dropping it out of the top-ten.
LMGT3 was led by the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Arnold Robin, who got around the pole-sitting No. 95 United McLaren of Darren Leung for the class lead on Lap 3.
The No. 59 United entry of James Cottingham was third in class prior to the first round of pit stops.
Drama ensued between the No. 87 ASP Lexus of Petru Umbrarescu and Francois Heriau’s No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, resulting in both cars spinning.
Umbrarescu, who received a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility, went to the garage after sustaining extensive left-front damage to the car.
