Free Practice 3: Audi Back On Top

Under cloudy skies, but on a dry track, the nr1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro was once again the fastest car on the 4.3km Interlagos circuit during the final Free Practice session of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo.  Marcel Fassler set the quickest time of the weekend so far with a lap time of 1:22.768, 0.188 ahead of Lucas di Grassi in the nr2 Audi R18 Ultra.  The nr7 Toyota Racing TS030 hybrid, which was the quickest car on day one, was 0.708s behind the lead Audi with Nicolas Lapierre posting a 1:23.473 lap for the Japanese team.

Once again it was the nr22 JRM HPD-Honda that was the fastest LMP1 privateer with Peter Dumbreck setting the fastest time for the car of 1:24.413s

The fastest car in LMP2 was the nr26 Signatech Nissan Oreca-Nissan, with Nelson Panciatici setting a lap of 1:26.815, 0.360 seconds ahead of Stephane Sarrazin in the nr44 Starworks Motorsports HPD-Honda and a further 0.122 seconds ahead of John Martin in nr25 ADR-Delta Oreca-Nissan.

In LMGTE Pro the tables were turned from yesterday as the nr77 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche of Marc Lieb was just 0.017 seconds quicker than the nr97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Stefan Mucke.

In LMGTE Am the nr50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette was once again the quickest car in the class, with Fernando Rees setting a best lap of 1:34.462, half a second ahead of the nr61 AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari of fellow Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi.

Qualifying for Round 5 of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in Brazil, will begin with qualifying for LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am at 14:00 (local) [18:00 (BST)/ 19:00 (CET)], with the session being streamed live on the championship website – http://live.fiawec.com

Free Practice 3 Results here

Jeff Carter