Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor piloted a WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 to a second FIA World Endurance Championship victory of the season in the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, as the Hertz Team JOTA Cadillacs that had locked out the front row ran into a string of issues.
The No. 15 WRT BMW crossed the line 2.254 seconds clear of the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, delivering an unexpected first Interlagos podium for the Italian manufacturer.
The best-placed Cadillac V-Series.R was the No. 12 of Will Stevens and Norman Nato, which finished third.
Stevens held the lead from pole at the start, ahead of the sister No. 38 entry, while Magnussen in the No. 15 BMW began a charge from behind. He quickly dispatched the No. 36 Alpine A424 driven by Frederic Makowiecki, which had started third, and then managed to split the two Cadillacs during the opening hour with a robust move at Ferradura when Earl Bamber’s progress was briefly hindered by traffic.
But the race soon began to slip away from the JOTA squad, as both Cadillacs endured lengthy first pit stops.
First up was the No. 38 crew, when Bamber locked up into his pit box, forcing the crew to shuffle their positions. Then Stevens suffered a wheel-nut failure on the No. 12 car, costing him around ten seconds and allowing the BMW to seize the advantage.
Magnussen and then Marciello continued to press in the middle phase of the race, with the No. 35 Alpine A424—which had started early in the first hour and ran a different strategy than the rest of the field—occasionally moving into a lead position outside of brief moments when the Cadillacs found themselves in traffic.
The Cadillacs’ pace was repeatedly hamstrung by incidents and delays: Stevens was penalized for contact with the No. 87 Lexus RC F GT3, while Nato had a brief spin at Turn 7 while contesting with the No. 83 AF Corse satellite Ferrari. These setbacks, combined with the Cadillacs getting stuck in traffic, gradually opened the door for the No. 51 Ferrari to start mounting a challenge.
Calado moved into the lead during the fifth hour during a round of routine pit stops, even though he kissed the barrier on exit from the pit lane and picked up part of an advertising sticker in the process. He continued to lead for a stretch, but Vanthoor in the BMW overtook him in the final round of stops and pulled away to secure a second win for the German marque this season.
The end of the race carried some nervous moments for BMW as the threat of rain loomed with darkening skies.
Vanthoor managed to hold Calado at arm’s length, leaving the Cadillacs to settle for the two remaining podium spots.
There was a brief switch of positions in the dying moments to see if Jack Aitken in the No. 38 could close the gap to the Ferrari, but the effort came to nothing and the order remained the same with only a couple of laps left.
Late drama emerged in the fight for the final podium places as Robin Frijns in the No. 20 BMW tried to overtake Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 Ferrari. Frijns’ move into the Senna Esses ended with a spin that allowed the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari to pounce, finishing fifth for the trio of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson.
The No. 20 BMW, along with teammates Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, ended sixth but received a five-second post-race penalty for the incident, dropping them to eighth and removing any chance of retaking the points lead.
The No. 50 Ferrari slipped to eighth by the finish, trailing the No. 007 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie, though both were elevated a place by the BMW penalty.
The remainder of the top ten was completed by the No. 009 Aston Martin and the No. 35 Alpine, with the latter’s late slow puncture undermining what had looked like a strong potential result for the French manufacturer.
Toyota endured another difficult Sao Paulo event, with the No. 7 TR010 Hybrid finishing 12th after a number of penalties, while the No. 8 was hit with a 12-lap setback in the pits to repair a broken toe rod after a clash with Andre Lotterer’s Genesis GMR-001.
TF Sport Corvette Takes Another Win in LMGT3
TF Sport claimed a second straight victory in the LMGT3 class, following their Le Mans triumph, this time at Interlagos with the No. 34 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Salih Yoluc, Peter Dempsey and Charlie Eastwood.
They finished 8.108 seconds ahead of the No. 69 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper.
The Corvette squad employed a contrasting strategy, with FIA Silver-graded Yoluc starting before handing to Bronze-rated Dempsey, while many rivals commenced with Bronze drivers.
Early on, the race was led by the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, but the Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVOs seized the initiative in the opening hour.
The No. 88 car, driven by Stefano Gattuso, led the sister No. 77 at one stage, but the crews diverged on strategy, with Gattuso exiting his car as soon as the minimum drive time was up, while Eric Powell remained in his car for the other entry.
Ultimately, the No. 34 Corvette moved into the lead late in the third hour, and Eastwood guided it to the chequered flag.
Seb Priaulx in the No. 77 Mustang attempted to stretch one fewer stop, but his used tires proved to be a liability as Harper in the No. 69 BMW overtook him with around 20 minutes remaining.
Priaulx dropped behind the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Richard Lietz and the sister Mustang of Logan Sargeant, only to be hit by a drive-through for track limits that compounded his afternoon.
Lietz’s Porsche came under pressure from Sargeant in the closing laps, but Lietz held on to complete the podium with Pera and Shahin.
The No. 91 Corvette, with Keating, Nico Varrone and Jonny Edgar aboard, moved ahead of Sargeant late on to take fourth, while Proton claimed fifth.
The championship-leading No. 33 Corvette, driven by Ben Keating with guest Nico Varrone and Jonny Edgar, finished eighth after a late collision from Maxime Martin in the Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, all while carrying maximum ballast after their Le Mans victory.
RESULTS: Six-Hour Sao Paulo
