Keiko Ihara during the 6hrs of Sao Paulo
6hrs of Sao Paulo, Brazil – Sunday, Sep 16th, 2012- Round five of the FIA World Endurance Championship took place in South America, and the event, promoted by former F1 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi in partnership with the City of Sao Paulo, attracted a race day crowd of 25,000 at the famous 4.3km twisty Interlagos circuit.
The privateer LMP2 Gulf Racing Middle East team representing the United Arab Emirates, have not enjoyed a smooth start to their first year in prototype racing. During the previous rounds of the inaugural WEC Championship, the team has been hindered by unavailability of manufacturer parts meaning only one Lola LMP2 B12/80 Nissan powered car would enter in the Sao Paulo round. The sister car #28 would not race this weekend due unavailable parts from Lola and its resident Swedish F1 star Stefan Johansson still nursing a badly broken leg.
Car #29 took its place on the grid in 18 place with drivers Fabien Giroix (FRA), taking the first stint followed by Keiko Ihara (JPN) and Jean-Denis Deletraz (SWTZ). Keiko Ihara remains the sole female to compete in the World Endurance Championship.
With overcast and damp weather conditions during practice, qualifying provided ideal conditions as the sun appeared for the first time during the weekend the team completed over one hundred laps running through a programme of set up and circuit familiarisation.
However disaster struck the team during the first lap of the race, as the Gulf car was hit hard from behind by one of the LMGTE Ferrari’s at turn four. As Fabian Giroix braked to avoid another separate collision 100m in from of him he was hit by the car behind. The front end of the Ferrari was dramatically lifted off the track as it climbed over the rear of the Gulf Middle East LMP2 car causing extensive damage to the bodywork.
Fabien, and several other cars, returned to the pits for essential repairs which took the team almost 30 minutes to rectify, in doing so, significant time had been lost in the race, and the team were left over 20 laps adrift of the nearest LMP2 rival car. Undeterred the mechanics battled hard to rejoin the race as it was important to have a finish in this round and to claim any valuable points available at this stage in the Championship with only three rounds remaining.
Gulf Racing Middle East now prepares for the next round a little closer to home in the 6hrs of Bahrain, on Sunday 29th Sept at Sakhir Circuit. This is a home from home race for the team who are based only a short distance away in Dubai. They are hoping that the Bahraini crowds will bring them some much needed luck and a great result.
