The #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Davide Rigon, Michael Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini leads the race and led 98 of 153 laps completed in the first half of the race. The Kessel Racing entry finished a minute and ten seconds ahead of the #2 Black Falcon Mercedes of Yelmer Buurman, Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Hubert Haupt. Another 27 seconds back was the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes of Jeroen Bleekemolen, Maro Engel and Khaled Al Qubaisi. The pole-sitting #44 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin is the final car on the lead lap. The Vantage GT3 of Jonny Adam, Darren Turner and Ahmad Al Harthy finished a minute and 51 seconds back of the Kessel Racing Ferrari.
Three laps down and rounding out the top five is the top Pro-Am entry, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Andrea Rizzoli. The top gentlemen entry was the #65 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Alexis de Bernardi, Loris Capirossi and Nicola Cadei and they finished ten seconds back of the #51 Ferrari in sixth. The #55 AF Corse Ferrari of Jack Gerber, Marco Cioci and Ilya Melnikov finished seventh, 32 seconds out of fifth and the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Marco Zanuttini, Michael Lyons and Vadim Gitlin finished eight, 44 seconds out of fifth.
The #10 Equipe Verschuur Renault Sport R.S. 01 of Jerome Naveaux, Miguel Ramos, Filipe Barreiros and Jean-Pierre Lequeux finished ninth after completing 149 laps. The #25 FF Corse Ferrari of Johnny Mowlem, Ivor Dunbar and Charlie Hollings rounded out the top ten and completed 148 laps.
The #20 MRS GT-Racing Porsche 991 Cup of Charlie Espenlaub, Charlie Putnam and Xavier Maassen leads the Cup class and are 11th overall after completing 144 laps. They lead the class by a lap.
The lone Code 60 occurred right at the start of the race when the #55 AF Corse Ferrari made contact with the #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari of Alex Kapadia in turn one and forced Kapadia into the #87 GDL Racing Porsche of Mario Cordoni. The Code 60 lasted just over 33 minutes. The #88 Ferrari completed 64 laps but ended up retiring. The #87 GDL Racing Porsche is still running but is last overall and have completed 61 laps. The #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari was the lone retirement from the first half of the race.
The final half of the Gulf 12 Hours will begin at 5:45 p.m. local time (9:45 a.m. ET).
