SAO PAULO, Brazil – The FIA World Endurance Championship goes global this weekend as the teams leave Silverstone behind and head off to Sao Paulo in Brazil. Round five of the championship is the 'Six Hours of Sao Paulo' and it takes place this Saturday at Interlagos. Seven of the 11 LMP2 runners in Brazil will compete with Nissan engines and the competition is expected to be as fierce as ever.
The Interlagos track is known the world over as the home of the Brazilian Grand Prix. It is a tricky circuit, running in an unusual anti-clockwise direction, and has many features that will challenge the WEC teams.
Signatech Nissan had a difficult race at Silverstone so the French team is motivated to leave this in the past and go on the attack in Brazil. For Nissan's GT Academy winner Jordan Tresson, this weekend will be a brand new experience.
"This is not only my first time at Interlagos but also the first time I have been to Brazil," said Jordan. "It's always exciting to race on the F1 tracks as you can feel the history at some of those places, especially here where so many world championships have been decided.
"In terms of the track itself it looks quite tricky," he continued. "It is a technical circuit so I have prepared a lot by spending time in the simulator and also watching a lot of in-car camera footage and studying data from the team. I will also have a good look at the circuit on foot when I get there. The other factors we need to prepare for are the likelihood of heavy rain showers but we can't predict that yet and of course the load on the other side of my neck with the anti-clockwise track."
Jordan is well aware that there will be a lot of work to do in Brazil. Unlike the European race tracks, Interlagos is relatively unknown to the teams so the free practice sessions should see a lot of track activity.
"As we don't race regularly at Interlagos we need to do a lot of work on different set ups when we arrive so the practice sessions will be very busy," he explained. "I think our car will be strong there but the Signatech Nissan team is a fast team that reacts quickly so that will also help us a lot. As usual it will be a tough fight against a vey strong field of LMP2 cars."
The Six Hours of Sao Paulo takes place this Saturday so the two 90-minute free practice sessions will get underway on Thursday at 11:00 and 15:30. There will be a further hour of practice on Friday morning before qualifying at 14:30 on Friday afternoon. The race will get the green light at 12:00hrs on Saturday. (All times local, Sao Paulo is -5 hours CET)
Courtesy of Nissan News
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