Baldwin was the first of the front-runners to take to the pitlane, opting to dive in after 40 minutes to attempt an undercut rather than continue tucked up under Pfeffer’s rear wing as the Ferrari built a five-second gap ahead. That left Pfeffer, Blajer and Nils Naujoks (BS+) all scrapping over second, while Baldwin was able to lap in clean air.
With the first stops ironed out Baldwin had jumped into second, only two seconds behind Danilo Santoro who’d taken control of the Ferrari. However it was Blajer setting the pace, clearing Baldwin first before demolishing the gap to Santoro at the front and taking the lead just before the two-hour mark.
This was how the race unfolded for the next couple of hours. McLaren stopped early and gained spots with the undercut, but then lost them later in the stint to cars on fresher tyres.
However Ferrari and Triton were duelling for first, with Tyszkiewicz first building a ten-second lead before Tonizza closed it back up again. Ferrari finally came out ahead as both cars pitted to swap drivers just after the five-hour mark, and Pawlowski built a healthy lead.
It looked like the race was in Ferrari’s pocket, but with just under two hours remaining Pawlowski made an unforced error and span on the banking of the final corner. While he was able to avoid damage from the wall, that excursion dropped him down to third.