The Interlagos circuit’s short lap can encourage tight qualifying in the FIA World Endurance Championship, but Saturday’s Hypercar Hyperpole was exceptionally close, with only six-tenths of a second separating the ten contenders.
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA claimed a fourth 1-2 qualifying result, as Will Stevens clinched a fifth WEC pole for the marque. The American manufacturer thus became the third to reach this milestone in the Hypercar era and the fifth to achieve it in the series’ premier class overall.
Stevens’ lap of 1:23.041 secured the pole for Cadillac, marking his first series pole since setting the LMP2 benchmark at Fuji in 2016 with G-Drive Racing, though the time was nearly half a second slower than Alex Lynn’s Sao Paulo pole from last year.
The nearest challenger to Cadillac in Hyperpole was Alpine, with Victor Martins just 0.067 seconds adrift in the No. 36 A424. Despite the respectable result, Martins admitted to Sportscar365: “I’m a bit frustrated because when you’re a race driver, a hundredth here or there can be found everywhere.”
Genesis Magma Racing looked set to repeat its best starting position of sixth, continuing a strong Sao Paulo weekend. However, Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 was subsequently dropped a place for impeding the No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 driven by Sheldon van der Linde during the opening phase of qualifying.
Similarly sanctioned after the session was the No. 7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid driven by Kamui Kobayashi. He received a three-place grid drop for obstructing Jaminet, but with Toyota’s pace leaving the squad 16th among 17 Hypercars, the penalty effectively mirrors Jaminet’s sanction.
It is already proving to be a challenging weekend for Toyota, as no car managed to advance to Hyperpole. Ryo Hirakawa, who will start 14th in the No. 8 machine, acknowledged Interlagos’ notorious difficulty for the Japanese manufacturer. “I think in qualifying we simply couldn’t extract the pace, and we hope the race pace will be stronger,” he told Sportscar365.
Interlagos had also been a thorn in Ferrari’s side, but Antonio Fuoco was pleased to have the best-scoring car among the Scuderia’s trio of 499P entries, placing seventh but later promoted to sixth on the grid after Jaminet’s penalty. “Today, given what we have, we couldn’t do more than this,” Fuoco said. “We have to be happy as a team because Interlagos is always quite tricky for us, but we’ve taken a meaningful step forward compared with last year.”
Malthe Jakobsen also left São Paulo content, achieving Peugeot’s target of placing a car into Hyperpole after a difficult Le Mans. He will start eighth and believed he could have climbed a couple more positions with a flawless lap.
Throughout the Brazilian event, forecasts wavered between rain and storms for Sunday’s race. Some forecasters, however, now suggest the weather could stay dry after all. Jakobsen is among those hoping for rain. “I have good memories from wet conditions in Austin last year, my first podium with the team,” he observed. “I’m Scandinavian, Paul is Scottish, so we’re among the nationalities more accustomed to rain.”
Kobe Pauwels claimed pole in the LMGT3 category on only his second WEC outing for Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. It was Aston Martin’s 72nd pole in the series and its sixth in the LMGT3 era.
Pauwels also earned the record for the fastest LMGT3 lap around Interlagos, clocking 1:33.350, beating the previous best of 1:33.849 set by Eduardo Barrichello, whom Pauwels coincidentally stood in for this weekend.
The Belgian admitted he “never expected” to take pole on his first visit to Interlagos and added: “The team has done such a fantastic job and provided me with a very quick car. Their support—data, video and everything—was crucial in the end.”
The championship-leading No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R failed to reach Hyperpole, but Ben Keating was “thrilled” with 12th on the grid while carrying the maximum 36 kilograms of success ballast. He explained to Sportscar365: “I thought we would be nowhere; I even spoke with the team about maybe saving the tires to have an advantage. That lap was a full second faster than the qualifying simulator I did this morning – it exceeded my expectations.”
Neither of the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evos advanced to Hyperpole on their first Interlagos visit. Antares Au noted that getting to grips with the track’s nuances was key, and the No. 10 crew were also hindered by a driveshaft issue during Friday practice that cost substantial power, for which officials granted a dispensation to replace the faulty part.
The 6 Hours of Sao Paulo is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. local time on Sunday (10:30 a.m. EST). Full coverage is available on the FIA WEC+ service, with Brazilian ace Felipe Nasr joining Martin Haven and Graham Goodwin in the commentary booth. Radio Show Ltd will also provide coverage on RS1, with Jonny Palmer and Johnny Mowlem in the booth.
