FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Sao Paulo - Hour 2

Michele Rugolo, starting driver Krohn Racing No. 57 Ferrari F458 GTE-Am (after first lap accident):

“I had a very good start and on the first corner I was leading, but I didn’t want to take any risks so I let the other car pass. In turn four, it was very packed and there were two Prototypes spun in front of us. Bernoldi went to pass and I was very close behind and couldn’t avoid him. The team has a big job ahead. They are all very good mechanics and I know they can fix it but the race is lost. We just need to try to finish the race.”

David Brown, Team Manager/Race Engineer, Krohn Racing:

“The front of the chassis is bent in the middle and all the bodywork on the front is damaged, both radiators are broken and the splitter. We are trying to replace the radiators but the problem is where the chassis is bent, we don’t think there’s enough room to get the radiators back in the car and that’s what we’re working on right now. Without repairing the chassis, I’m not sure we can repair the car.

That’s the problem at the moment. We’ve got an hour and 16 minutes to fix it and score points and we’ve had 20 minutes. The point is if we fix it in three hours we will still go out and do three hours of running. It’s just a question right now if we can actually get it together without having to pull the chassis straight again. I don’t whether we can do that yet.”

Lapierre is pushing hard and suddenly is dealing better with traffic than the Audis - 18 seconds to the good after 43 laps.

The #77 Porsche has pitted - Lietz now aboard - The Aston meanwhile is making no further impact on the #51 Ferraris lead.

Rees pits from the lead in GTE Am - as does Ruberti from second - Bernoldi leads the class even after his airborne moment.

The JWA Avila Porsche lies second in GTE Am but owes us a stop and the Aston is going much longer than the #77 Porsche on fuel too!  Mucke squeezes two more laps out of #97 than the Porsche could muster.

48 laps done and the lead is 20 seconds - Toyota's attack is looking very strong indeed.

Bertolini pits in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari He's followed in by Palttala in the JWA Porsche.

The GTE Pro leading #51 458 pits next time around, followed down pitlane by the Am leading #61 car, Bernoldi sporting a huge hole in the front of the Ferrari's bodywork, courtesy of the lap One incident with the Gulf Lola - In fact the #61 car is pushed into the garage - the team looking at the rear of the car.

Lapierre continues to extend the lead - 27.5 seconds after 54 laps.

Both leading GTE Pro cars have seen driver changes at their pit stops - Fisichella leads Turner now by 8 seconds, Richard Lietz is 17 seconds further back.

In Am - Rees leads Roda by 9 seconds, Joel Camathias lies third.

In LMP2 Potolicchio is holding the gap to the leading #35 Morgan at around 13 seconds - Olivier Lombard is 42 seconds further back.

The two LMP1 HPDs are in rather too close attendance and Dumbreck taps the back of the Strakka car of Kane - the JRM car may have lost a dive plane there - This the battle for fifth overall. That touch though caught the attention of the Stewards - does a penalty loom? Nope - a warning flag suffices!

Toyota are half a minute ahead after 57 laps - McNish is now right on the tail of Treluyer - Time to release the Scotsman for a maximum attack run?

Potolicchio is closing in fast on Baguette - Starworks changed tyres at the first stop and it seems the Morgan has had the best out of its first set of Dunlops.

Darren Turner is now in attack mode too - 6.5 seconds the gap between the leader (Fisichella) and DT's Aston.

Primat is catching the battling HPDs very quickly and is about to join the 5th place battle in the #13 Rebellion.

Baguette pits - Starworks lead LMP2 again - Lapierre now 34 seconds ahead in the lead after 90 minutes of racing.

The battling privateer P1s are all together - Primat takes instant advantage of Dumbreck's momentary baulking by a Larbre Corvette - the Rebellion past the JRM HPD and into 6th.

Treluyer pits - Fassler climbs aboard #1 after justt 66 laps - the Audi takes tyres and fuel - Tyre trouble?

The Toyota pits on the next lap - Tyes, fuel and Alex Wurz - McNish leads and holds a 40 second lead (but owes us a pit stop next.

Joel Camathias is cruising slowly in the third in GTE Am JWA Avila - right rear puncture it seems - the damage causing a small fire at the rear of the car - He gets it to the pitlane but there will be a delay here for the #55 crew.

Alex Brundle is now aboard the #35 Morgan Nissan an he takes up the pursuit of Potolicchio in the Starworks HPD.

McNish pits from the lead (after lap 73) - Wurz leads the race - Kristensen takes over in #2.

Wurz leads the #1 Audi of Fassler by 16 seconds - Dieter Gass says that tyre degradation on the Audis is worse than they expected.

Potolicchio pits after an excellent stint and continues for a double - Brundle is right with him and takes the lead on lap 71 - Olivier Lombard simultaneously takes third from Lahaye - All change in the top 4 in LMP2!

Turner is still gradually closing on Fisichella for the lead in GTE Pro - 4.5 seconds as we near the end of the second hour but then closing in more rapidly as the pair are involved with duelling LMP2s.

#24 pits - Pla in for Lahaye as Brundle pulls away easily from Potolicchio in the sister #35 car.

Krohn Racing retire the #57 Ferrari.

The JRM HPD pits - tyres, fuel and David Brabham - the JRM crew turn the car around better than rebellion who pit Primat at the same time  - The HPD gets away first as the Swiss driver seem to struggle to refire the engine.

Kristensen has a quick spin at T12 after contact with an AF Corse Ferrari and rejoins.

That's 2 hours done here at Interlagos with the race well alight in all classes.