1-Hour Update: Marciello leads Total 24 Hours of Spa for Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP

1-Hour Update: Marciello leads Total 24 Hours of Spa for Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP

Raffaele Marciello led the Total 24 Hours of Spa for Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP after the first hour of racing.

The Italian started from pole and maintained his position on the maiden run into Raidillon. He was not seriously challenged thereafter and held an advantage of five seconds at the 60-minute mark.

The race came alive after half an hour when Mattia Drudi passed Maro Engel (#4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT) and then Chris Mies (#31 Audi Sport Team WRT) within a matter of moments to move into second spot. The Italian had started from fourth in the #66 Audi Sport Team Attempto machine.

After Mies and Engel, the Porsches of Thomas Preining (#40 GPX) and Michael Christensen (#47 KCMG) ran fifth and sixth respectively at the hour-mark. Frederik Schandorff (#78 Barwell Lamborghini) led the Silver Cup in 21st overall, while Maxime Martin (#188 Garage 59 Aston Martin) made major progress from 41st on the grid to run 26th and lead in Pro-Am. The #129 Raton Lamborghini topped the Am Cup in 46th overall with Stefano Costantini at the wheel. 

There were a number of incidents during the opening stages, with the #55 Attempto Audi coming off worst after being hit from behind on the first lap. The car, driven for the start by Finlay Hutchison, was still in the pits on the hour.

So was the #19 Orange1 FFF Lamborghini after Hiroshi Hamaguchi spun into the barriers at the exit of Speakers Corner. The Japanese driver made it back to the pits where the FFF crew began to repair the damage. 

The #488 Rinaldi Ferrari hit trouble after coming together with the #11 Team Parker Bentley, while there were also problems for the #21 KCMG Porsche and the #20 SPS Mercedes-AMG. A full-course yellow was deployed at the 10-minute mark to clear debris on-track between turns 11 and 12 and subsequently became a short safety car period.

Watch the race live on the Total 24 Hours of Spa website, the event's official Facebook page and the GT World YouTube channel.