FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Sao Paulo - Pre-race and First Hour We've had Samba dancers, singers, a random lady with an accordion and Emerson Fittipaldi - With the temperature soaring and all 28 cars on the grid we're almost ready to go: Selected starting drivers in grid order: 7 Lapierre
2 McNish
1 Treluyer
12 Jani
21 Kane
13 Belicchi
22 Dumbreck
44 Sarrazin
25 Martin
26 Panciatici
35 Baguette
32 Liuzzi
23 Mailleux
41 Julian
24 Lahaye
49 Kaffer
31 Holzer
97 Mucke
77 Lieb
51 Bruni
71 Bertolini
61 Bernoldi
57 Rugolo
88 Ruberti
50 Rees
70 Gibon
55 Palttala
The flypast by a pair of Brazilian Air force F5s scared the living hell out of the entire press room - impressive in terms of (lack of) altitude and (massive) volume! The cars are rolling on the formation lap after some very last minute attention to the #35 Morgan
Lapierre gets a clean run into the lead with McNish imposing himself over Treluyer to retain second spot. Giroix and Kaffer get together and spin then Bernoldi t-boned the Gulf Lola and gets airborne over the rear end of #29 - The Pecom Oreca pits, Lahaye too in the #24 Oak, but he gets away quickly - #29 is out on the spot and #61, the polesitter hasn't made it back as yet. The Krohn Ferrari has pitted too. At the front of the race though Lapierre is down to the task of opening the gap - 1.8 seconds up afrter 2 laps. In GTE Pro Mucke fell behind Lieb on Lap one, baulked by the LMP2 shunt ahead and behind Bruni on lap 2, Ruberti leads GTE AM after Bernoldi's shunt. Lapierre's pace is stunning - the gap growing rapidly - 3.5 seconds after 5 laps but stabilising as traffic becpmes a factor. Bruni leads GTE Pro after passing Lieb, the top three almost nose to tail - In Am Rees is closing in on Ruberti for the lead. The lead order in LMP2 is as they gridded at present, Sarrazin leads John Martin and Franck Mailleux - the HPD though is opening a gap. McNish closes the gap a little in traffic but its still over 3 seconds - Lapierre though needs to pull away in order to offset the fuel disadvantage later. Treluyer is tracking McNish closely with Jano a furthe 8 seconds back in the leading petrol privateer - #1 passes #2 though on the start finish 'straight, Hybrid will now look to get on terms with hybrid for the lead, the gap 4 seconds as they start lap 10, McNish dropping back a little. Bernoldi meanwhile had continued and not only that - 'Air Brazil' - is making progress up the order, now third in GTE Am - The Krohn Ferrari is still in the pits. The lap times are comning down again as the leaders find racing room - the gap after lap 11 is 4.2 seconds - not big enough if the Toyota is to make up the 0.7 seconds per lap over a race distance that Paul Truswell calculates they'll need to offset their fuel consumption disadvantage. In fact treluyer is nibbling away at that gapthe gap. The recovering Matthieu Lahaye spins again into the dust and rejoins - A dreadful start for the #24 Morgan Nissan. Big trouble for the ADR Delta Oreca Nissan which had been running second in LMP2 has lost a wheel, front left - and is struggling back to the pits (John Martin makes it) - That seems to have been a result of contact with Lahaye - and that in turn the cause of Lahaye's (second) spin. Treluyer has the gap under 3 seconds but one bad lap in traffic andf its up to over 6 next time around. Martin rejoins in the #25 Oreca - Sarrazin now leads Mailleux and a storming Vitantonio Liuzzi in LMP2, the HPD a full 23 seconds to the good with Mailleux and Liuzzi right together, as is Bertrand Baguette and he gets by both of the others to set off in pursuit of the leader. News from Krohn Racing is that Michele Rugolo was moving to avoid the chaos ahead but hit the rear of another Ferrari as the car in front braked in avoidance - Radiator, splitter and bodywork damage the result for the green machine - the team are working on a fix, a long job, but they want the points here badly! Liuzzi is looking for a way by the #23 Signatech oreca, Mailleux looks to be struggling and Elton Julian is closing fast on this battle too. The lead gap meanwhile is up to 8 seconds - but it needs to be around 20 seconds for the Toyota to stay on target.
Fernando Rees finally grabs the GTE Am lead into Turn one with a neat and tidy move on Ruberti. In GTE Pro meanwhile Bruni is storming away - almost 30 seconds ahead of Lieb who is defending hard from Mucke.
Liuzzi has now found a way by Mailleux - up to third in LMP2. The leading trio meanwhile are still 7,1 and 2 with the Toyota 10.5 seconds to the good after lap 28, McNish a further 6 seconds down on Treluyer. The P1 privateer battle meanwhile sees a Rebellion 1,2 - Jani 20 seconds up on Belicchi who has Kane and Dumbreck in very close attendance. Traffic again for the Toyota drops the gap to under 10 seconds as the first fuel stop looms. Mailleux pits and we spot the Gulf Lola back underway, Giroix had made his way back after the Lap One shunt. Mucke is up into second having passed Lieb in GTE Pro.
Toyota are ready for a fuel stop but the #7 has gone longer on fuel than expected here - Time for the Truswell supercomputer to recalculate. Lapierre stays out and starts his lap 33. Thomas Holzer pits in the #31 Lotus LMP2. Andrea Belicchi is the first LMP1 man to stop (Harold Primat climbs aboard #13) and is followed down pitlane by the leader - Treluyer leads in the #1 Audi. Lapierre rejoins ahead of Jani in third place. Mucke is closing in on Bruni who seems to have lost a chunk of time somewhere Nic Minassian is getting ready to take over from Pierre Kaffer in the #49 Pecom Oreca Nissan, the German having recovered to 7th in class after the early delay. Pecom take tyres at this stop. Sarrazin pits from the lead in LMP2 (replaced by Potolicchio) as Jani is in and out in the #12 Rebellion. Treluyer pits after 38 laps McNish Leads - Audi do not have as big a fuel edge here it seems! McNish laps next time around - Lapierre retakes the lead. The driver change in LMP2 for Starworks sees the #35 Oak take the lead but Pottolicchio is not losing time to the Morgan - 10.7 seconds back as the first hour is nearly done. The Toyota has a 5 second advantage over the #1Audi after 60 minutes with the #2 Audi still 6 back. | 
