The track action has got underway for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo and the first 90 minutes of Free Practice has come a close. The rain and overcast skies of the last few days appears to have disappeared and the session was run in temperatures of 26oC air/32o track.
Ferrari and Aston Martin finished at the top of the timesheets for the LMGTE Pro and Am classes respectively but there is only 0.69s separating the top eight cars and it is a mark of how competitive GTE is. Times tumbled as the track warmed up and more rubber was laid down, and all the drivers were extremely happy with the grip levels.
James Calado made it an AF Corse 1-2, the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia upping the stakes in the inter-team rivalry by just beating his World Champion team mates, Toni Vilander and Gimmi Bruni, in the No.51 Ferrari in the dying seconds of the session. Teamed with Davide Rigon, the British driver’s best lap was a 1:31.598, just over one tenth of a second ahead.
Third in class, but at the top of the times for much of the session was the No.92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet/Jörg Bergmeister. The Frenchman’s best time of 1:32.004 was only marginally ahead of the leading LMGTE Am runner, the championship-winning No.95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Nicki Thiim/David Heinemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen (1:32.011) which led a train of three Aston Martin Vantages.
The leading Aston Martin Pro entry was one hundredth of a second behind his Am team mate, and the same distance behind again was a hard-charging Darryl O’Young in the No.99 entry. Second in the LMGTE Am class was the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia which features local legend Emerson Fittipaldi alongside Alessandro Pier Guidi and Jeff Segal – the Italian setting the benchmark with a best lap of 1:32.183. Third in class was the No.81 AF entry, Michele Rugolo lapping in 1:32.702.
The second 90-minute free practice session will take place at 17h30 tonight (19h30) local.
