A tough start for the Ferrari crews in the first leg of the Gulf 12 Hours race. When the first chequered flag unfurled on the stroke of the sixth hour, the best among the 488 GT3 Evo 2020 cars was Monster VR46’s #46 entry, currently lying in fifth overall position, fourth in Pro-Am class. The first part of the race took place without major shake-ups and without any Full Course Yellow phases or Safety Car entrances - a situation that had only previously occurred once, back in 2014. This was also facilitated by the reduced number of cars taking the start. Ferrari performance was hindered by the BoP, making the battle for top positions harder and hampered further by driving errors and the drive-throughs imposed by race stewards. The three 488 GT3 Evo 2020s passed the five-hour mark occupying fifth, sixth and seventh position respectively with the cars crewed by Rossi-Marini-Salucci, Cuhadaroglu-Zollo-Fumanelli-Tabacchi and Cutrera-LMDV-Frezza-Cadei. The crew of the nine-time motorcycle world champion and current GT3 Am class leader, finished the first six hours one lap adrift of the leader, while the second Kessel Racing-run car crossed the line seven laps behind.
The race will resume at 15:30 local time for the final scheduled six hours, with the starting grid determined by the opening half race result. Cars will once again compete, with the same distances with regards to the number of laps completed at the chequered flag, but with the gaps nullified in terms of seconds.