Hour 3: Safety Car period Helps Extend Toyota’s Lead As Oak Racing Defends LMP2 Lead.
A three lap safety car to recover Jordan Tresson’s nr23 Signatech-Nissan, which was stranded in the middle of the track after losing a rear wheel, allowed the Toyota Racing TS030-Hybrid of Alex Wurz to open up a 51 second lead over the nr1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fassler and a further lap ahead of Tom Kristensen’s Audi R18 Ultra.
Before the safety car period the status quo had remained with the Toyota leading the two Audi’s by 15 seconds with their third scheduled stops either completed or due. However when the safety car was deployed the Toyota was in one train of cars and the Audis found themselves half a lap behind in the second safety car train.
Nicolas Prost continued to head the LMP1 Privateer battle in the nr12 Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota, but David Brabham’s JRM HPD-Honda came to a halt while circulating behind the safety car and had to be towed off the track.
When the green flag was shown to resume the race the LMP2 battle was soon providing a great spectacle with Alex Brundle in the nr35 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan coming under pressure from the nr44 Starworks Motorsports HPD-Honda of Ryan Dalziel. At the top of the hour the two cars were split by just 0.2 seconds as they raced lap after lap nose-to-tail.
The LMGTE Pro battle was also still providing a lot of entertainment with the nr97 AMR Vantage of Stefan Mucke defending his lead from a strong charge by Gianmaria Bruni in the nr51 AF Corse Ferrari. Bruni finally made his move on the run into T1 with 8 minutes of the hour remaining, diving down the inside of the Aston Martin to take the class lead.
Julien Canal in the nr50 Larbre Competition Corvette held a comfortable one lap advantage over his nearest rival, Christian Ried in the nr88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche.
Jeff Carter
Track Data
Air t° :24.2°C
Track t° :33.9°C
Wind :SE at 9.7 kph
Humidity :73%
Michelin Green X Challenge leaders at the end of Hour 3
2-1-21
RACE FACTS – HOUR 3
19:14:13 Minor touch between Fisichella #51 Ferrari and Kristensen in #2 Audi - under investigation
19:20:52 Turner out of #97 Aston Martin and Stefan Mucke takes over - quick stop
19:25:19 Battle is again the race for the lead in LM GTE pro between #51 Ferrari and #97 Aston Martin.
19:27:44 Pit stop for leader in LM GTE Pro - Fisichella #51 Ferrari
19:29:24 Aston Martin takes the lead of LM GTE Pro - passes #51 Ferrari in pits
19:33:01 Pit stop for Fassler in #1 Audi - rejoins 23s behind Wurz in Toyota #7
19:34:00 #23 Signatech loses a wheel on the circuit at turn 10
19:35:27 Safety Car out due to incident at turn 10
19:40:34 Kristensen in #2 Audi pits under Safety Car conditions – rejoins
19:43:07 Green flag racing again
19:45:47 After SC period, 43.7s gap now between Wurz in Toyota #7 and Fassler in Audi #1
19:53:30 Bruni in #51 AF Corse Ferrari passes Mucke in #97 Aston Martin for lead in LM GTE Pro
19:55:57 Alex Brundle leads LMP2 in #35 Morgan Nissan but being challenged by Dalziel in Starworks HPD #44
Photo: INTERLAGOS (SAO PAULO, BRAZIL), AUTODROMO JOSE CARLOS PACE, 6 HOURS OF SAO PAULO, SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2012, RACE.