Time for a break from the strategy and tyre picks for the completed Brazilian race report
Firstly, the technical stuff. Michael Scoffwacher was the only player to hit any modifier, getting a -10 hit for his captain equalling the lottery bonus ball. It knocked him down a few places but didn't cost him any championship points as he would have been outside the top 10 anyway.
So now we cut to Brazil, the samba crowd trying their best to make more noise than the cars (and nearly succeeding at times). Pink_Elephantz Massa is the local hope today from the second row of the grid, with Rubens Blahblachello also having some solid support but he'll have to drive something special to win from 14th. The weather is very hot and humid, with some dark clouds ominously lurking off to the east.
We don't even get to the green race lights before we have our first casualty. Jarno Tacalabauli, who has had a miserable experience here in Brazil, finishes the parade lap by pulling into the pits and straight into his garage. His car engine did sound very sick, almost like the team had stuck diesel in it by mistake!
As the cars roar away from the line Jenson Beerfuelledman seems to be having trouble, sliding back from 2nd place on the grid to 6th going into the first corner with Crispybitshok on his inside and Nico Richtberg on his outside. There is some minor contact through the corner but all 3 drivers show some great skill and all 3 make it round in one piece, Crispybitshok taking 6th, Beerfuelledman 7th and Richtberg 8th once the cars get themselves sorted out into single file.
Further down the grid Di Gazwood has made a cracking start moving into 10th from 16th and looking dangerous behind 9th place man Colbert Kubica.
At the front though is Jaime Calvinsuari, with Sebastien Burightwater and Giancanaryello Fisichella following close behind. Calvinsuari is soon stretching out a lead though as Fisichella pressurises Burightwater in an attempt to take 2nd.
Coming up to the first round of pit stops and Fisichella has made it past Burightwater into 2nd and is trying to chase down Calvinsuari. Further down the field Pink_Elephantz Massa is struggling in front of his home fans. He doesn't seem to be too happy with the balance of his car and his radio transmissions with his team are unbroadcastable pre-watershed.
There are some yellow flags at turns 8-9 now, but the live TV seems to have missed the incident. There's at least one car off into the tyre wall but it's difficult to tell as there's a lot of smoke and dust thrown up by the accident and the marshalls subsequent efforts to extinguish the fire. Finally a replay comes up and shows Nick "Sir John" Grimesfeld making a ridiculous move from miles behind Heikki Discovaleinen. That was never going to end well, with Grimesfeld locking up all 4 wheels and running straight over the front of Discovaleinen's car wiping out his wing and nose cone before heading at some speed into the tyre wall. It looks like he's out of the car and OK, and Discovaleinen is limping back to the pits for new parts. By the time the mechanics have checked over his car he continues with the race but it's fairly academic as he's now 2 laps behind the leader with that delay.
In the second phase of the race Calvinsuari seems to have lost some of the blinding pace he had on his first set of tyres, and is being slowly reeled in by Fisichella, with Burightwater keeping pace 2 seconds behind the Italian. Behind them, 8 seconds further back, Crispybitshok and Richtberg are having a massive battle for 4th, Mowatson Webber is 6th, and Lucas Di Gazwood is filling the wing mirrors of Pink_Elephantz Massa who just can't seem to find any pace.
The second phase of pit stops come round and Burightwater and Fisichella get through with no problems, but Calvinsuari's lollipop man raises the stick whilst the rear jack isnt fully disengaged, resulting in him having to stop again 20 meters down the pit lane as his mechanics sprint after him to remove it. As a result of this he not only loses his lead, but he comes out only just in front of Crispybitshok in 3rd.
The race enters the last few laps with the top 4 looking fairly settled, but further down the field there are some stories. Nico Richtberg has managed to keep hold of 5th place through the last set of stops and will score his first championship points of the season, and Vitantonio Latici has also broken his duck as long as he can hold Pedro de la Roga off for 10th place. Lucas di Gazwood is probably the driver of the race, coming from 16th on the grid to score points in 6th place. Pink_Elephantz Massa has stabilised his race in 8th, and Colbert Kubica has also struggled but won some points in 9th.
The last laps are uneventful and Giancanaryello Fisichella takes his first chequered flag of the season. Sebastien Burightwater takes second, moving into the championship lead as he does so. Adrian Stuboy, the previous championship leader, has a disappointing race and finishes 17th.
Full race results and updated championship standings are up on page 1 - please continue with the stratgey and tyre picks
