Porsche controlled the early stages of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo this afternoon. In warm and sunny conditions and in front of a large crowd the 26 car field produced typically close and exciting racing in the first 90-minuites.
Timo Bernhard in the pole sitting #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid opened up a healthy 12-second gap over the chasing #8 Toyota TS 040 driven by Sebastien Buemi. Bernhard handed the car over to Mark Webber after 52 minutes and the Australian continued in the lead until a full course yellow was deployed after Olivier Pla suffered an accident in the G-Drive Ligier.
The full course yellow lasted for just eight minutes but Webber soon picked up the pace that Bernhard had started the race with and extended the lead to 11-seconds as the clock ticked to 90mins.
The #8 Toyota, which Buemi handed over to fellow 2014 Drivers title winner, Anthony Davidson was just fending off the chasing #14 Porsche driven by Neel Jani. In the early stages Marc Lieb had pressured the lead Toyota massively during an epic fight for second position.
In fourth position the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro remained in touch with the leading trio as Lucas Di Grassi completed an impressive opening stint before handing over the hot seat to Loic Duval, who was just 1.5 seconds behind Jani’s Porsche at the 90mins stage.
The retiring Tom Kristensen is yet to come in the #1 car and was given a rousing reception from the grandstands by the huge crowd on the starting grid.
The #13 Rebellion Racing R-One Toyota driven by Fabio Leimer controlled the LMP1-L class after the sister #12 car made a long un-scheduled pit stop. The #9 Lotus CLM suffered a similar long stop in its pit box as the team worked hard to fix the issues and re-join the race.
The title battle in LMP2 appeared to be over after Pla’s accident just after the first hour of racing while he led the class. The Frenchman suffered a large frontal impact after what appeared to be a mechanical problem on the car. Pla emerged unharmed from the incident which means that the #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan just has to finish the race to claim both the LMP2 titles.
KCMG led from the start of the race with Alexander Imperatori opening up a decent gap. The lead was temporarily lost after the first stops but once the G-Drive Ligier retired it picked up the top spot again and enjoyed a large lead over the #37 SMP car. Both SMP entries suffered early race punctures but with Sergey Zlobin’s #27 SMP car in third place, the titles look to be heading to the Russian team in 2014.
Follow the race with live timing right here - http://live.fiawec.com
Race Facts:
14:28:16 Aston #95 under investigation for short-cut on circuit
14:24:08 Track temp now over 29C and still rising
14:22:52 Rebellion #12 has long stop now 24th overall 10 laps behind leader
14:21:12 Ferrari #90 under investigation for pit stop infringement
14:19:21 Ferrari #51 stops for tyres
14:14:52 Audi #2 had power issue at start and Treluyer had to reboot systems
14:13:37 Contact between #51 Ferrari and #97 Aston
14:12:42 Audi #2 took 2nd stop under Full Course Yellow - Fassler now in
14:10:45 Ferrari #81 leads GTE Am after pit stops
14:10:00 Green flag again
14:09:40 Aston #99 leads GTE Pro after pit stops
14:08:03 Barriers being repaired after crash of #26 Ligier
14:05:59 Ligier #26 pushed behind barriers
14:04:43 After 1 hour #95 Aston leads GTE Am from #98 Aston and #81 Ferrari
14:03:34 After 1 hour #97 Aston leads #99 Aston and #92 Porsche in GTE Pro
14:02:25 FULL COURSE YELLOW
14:01:58 But #26 Ligier hits barriers very hard
14:01:17 After 1 hour in P2 Ligier #26 leads by 1.5 seconds from #47 Oreca and #27 Oreca
14:00:11 After 1 hour #20 Porsche leads #8 Toyota by 8 seconds with #14 Porsche in 3rd
13:56:52 All LMP cars have now stopped once
13:56:29 CLM #9 back in pits
13:54:56 Conway now in #7 Toyota
13:54:05 Ligier #26 leads P2 after pit stops from #47 Oreca
13:52:58 Porsche #20 into pits - Webber takes over
13:52:06 Toyota's #7 and #8 into pits also #14 Porsche
13:50:52 Audi #2 into pits and also #26 Ligier
13:50:01 Audi #1 into pits Duval takes over
13:49:29 P2 leader KCMG #47 into pits fuel only
13:47:52 Both Rebellion's have stopped for fuel only
13:46:07 1:18.617 fastest lap for Bernhard in #20 Porsche - new LMP1 lap record for Interlagos circuit
13:44:19 Rebellion #12 leader of LMP1-L into pits
13:41:54 CLM #9 had gearbox problem losing oil but running ok now
13:39:06 Oreca #37 has right front tyre change
13:36:37 SMP Oreca #37 running slowly with puncture
13:35:53 Delayed #2 Audi now up to 6th overall
13:34:56 Ligier #26 now second in P2 after stops for both SMP Oreca's #27 and #37
13:32:58 CLM #9 rejoins having lost 10 laps
13:29:03 1:18.693 fastest lap for Bernhard in #20 Porsche
13:27:33 1:18.740 fastest lap for Bernhard in #20 Porsche
13:26:50 Oreca #27 into pits with puncture
13:26:14 1:18.802 fastest lap for Bernhard in #20 Porsche
13:22:41 Oreca #37 into pits for steering wheel change
13:21:54 CLM #9 pushed into its garage
13:20:59 1:18.902 fastest lap for Bernhard in #20 Porsche
13:18:29 1:18.963 fastest lap for Bernhard in #20 Porsche
13:17:23 CLM #9 into pits
13:15:41 1:19.129 fastest lap for Lieb in #14 Porsche
13:14:39 Buemi in #8 Toyota now only 1.25 secs behind leading #20 Porsche
13:11:44 Leaders now lapping GTE cars
13:09:25 Audi #2 may have suffered minor damage in start incident with #37 Oreca
13:06:01 Aston #97 leads GTE Pro and #95 Aston leads GTE Am
13:04:31 Oreca #47 leads P2
13:03:38 Porsche #20 leads Toyota #8 and Porsche #14 at end of first lap
13:02:41 Lotus #9 and Rebellion #13 touch but continue
13:01:46 Audi #2 running slowly
13:00:54 Green Flag
13:00:21 Track temp 25C Air temp 26.6C
12:57:42 Formation lap
12:57:25 Lamy in GTE Am pole winner #98 Aston
12:56:42 Mucke in pole sitting #97 Aston in GTE Pro
12:56:03 Pla in pole sitting P2 Ligier #26
12:55:24 Di Grassi and Treluyer in Audi's #1 and #2
12:54:41 Lieb and Bernhard in Porsche's #14 and #20
12:53:59 Buemi and Wurz in Toyota's #7 and #8
