Rockenfeller trying to repair car

The German driver crashed his car coming out of Tertre Rouge, just one lap after he had set the fastest lap of the race for the No.3 car.

The car has sustained heavy rear end damage, but Rockenfeller needs to repair the car himself if he wants to return it to the pits.

Rockenfeller's teammate Alexandre Premat is yet to drive the car in the race, and he said that the German was trying to make repairs to the rear suspension on the car.

"If he can get the car back then the team can fix it, I'm sure," said the Frenchman. "He needs to make sure that the suspension is free of any other parts that could affect it.

"The good thing about our car is that while it looks very bad, they are designed so that these things can be fixed quickly."

The former GP2 racer added that he felt that the team were going to be strong enough to finish on the podium, as the Audis ran first, second, and third in the early stages.

"Mike was really fast when he got in the car, and Lucas (Luhr) had done a very good job too," Premat told autosport.com.

"I think we were looking good for the podium, but now I just hope he can get the car back so we don't have to go home."

"If we get back out, we will just have to push, and learn as much as we can for next year. It is early in the race, so you never know what we could do."