As the clouds gathered overhead, and daylight began to fade, the chequered flag flew signalling the end of the second free practice session for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo. Aston Martin Racing comprehensively led the way in both LMGTE Pro and Am, with Brazilian hot shot Fernando Rees putting all his local knowledge to good use at the Interlagos circuit to claim the fastest GTE lap in the No.99 Vantage V8.
Despite various reports of rain during the session, none of which was hard enough to need wet weather tyres, the lap times for the first eight cars were once again within a second of each other. Rees, in the car he shares with Alex MacDowall and Darryl O’Young set a best lap of 1:30.112, 0.06s ahead of his team mates Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner in the No.97. Heading the LMGTE Am class, and third overall in the combined categories, was the No.98 Aston Martin of Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Christoffer Nygaard (1:30.367).
Third, fourth and fifth places in LMGTE Pro were fought out between the two Porsche Team Manthey entries and the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari which was sandwiched between the RSRs. Richard Lietz and Jörg Bergmeister claimed third with a best time of 1:30.757, less than one hundredth of a second ahead of the Italian car.
Second in LMGTE Am was another Aston Martin – rounding off an excellent day for the British marque and giving them a 1-2 in each class – this time the No.95 Dane Train of Poulsen, Thiim and Heineimeier Hansson. Third was the No.81 AF Corse Ferrari.
A third, one-hour free practice session will take place at 10h00 tomorrow and qualifying will following in the afternoon beginning at 14h45.
Full times can be found HERE
Fiona Miller
