BMW recovered from a late error to pip Ferrari to victory in the World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Sao Paulo and boost its prospects in the Hypercar title fight.
Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor led much of the race in the #15 BMW M Hybrid, only losing the net lead in the penultimate hour when Vanthoor ran wide and handed the advantage to the #51 Ferrari 499P of James Calado.
But owing to having more fuel in the car, the #15 BMW was able to go longer and complete a shorter fuel stop in the final hour, allowing Vanthoor – who reported feeling sick on team radio – to circle back in the lead.
The Belgian eventually brought the car home just 2.2s clear of the #51 Ferrari after the rain that many had feared never materialised, helping BMW celebrate its second victory in three races following the #20 crew’s triumph at Imola in May.
At the start of the race, Will Stevens led the field from pole position in the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R, with Magnussen jumping to second ahead of the #38 Cadillac of Earl Bamber.
The BMW moved to the front after both factory Jota cars lost a heap of time at the first round of pitstops, a stuck wheel nut dropping the #12 Cadillac well down the order.
Meanwhile, the two Alpine A424s emerged as a potential threat to the #15 BMW, with a decision to short fuel the car, giving Ferdinand Habsburg and Frederic Makowiecki track position over Magnussen. The decision was prompted by Makowiecki dropping from sixth to outside the top 10 in the #35 car, with the #36 also effectively copying its offset strategy.
However, the #15 BMW continued to close the gap to the #35 Alpine over the next few hours, despite comfortably being in the net lead, with the #36 entry dropping out of the battle after a puncture.
In the fourth hour, Marciello rapidly caught up to the back of Habsburg’s team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa, allowing third-placed Alessandro Pier Guidi to also close the gap in the #51 Ferrari.
Marciello couldn’t pass da Costa on track and only moved ahead when the Alpine pitted, with Pier Guidi taking advantage of the battle to close within two seconds of him.
This would prove crucial at the next round of pitstops, when Vanthoor (BMW) and Calado (Ferrari) took over the cars from their respective team-mates. Calado had a major moment when he understeered at the exit of the pit lane and nudging the barrier, leaving a piece of advertising hoarding stuck to the front-left side of the Ferrari.
But he did not lose much time, and when Vanthoor ran off at Interlagos’ tricky inner section, Calado didn’t need a second edition to sweep past the BMW.
However, the #51 Ferrari came into the pits with exactly an hour to go in the pits, with the #15 BMW having more fuel to go almost 12 minutes further.
This allowed Vanthoor to rejoin the field in the lead, comfortably clear of Calado’s Ferrari. Although Charles Milesi passed Vanthoor for position on the BMW’s out lap, the #35 Alpine either needed top-up fuel or be aggressive with fuel saving to make it to the finish.
A slow puncture sealed the deal for the Alpine, with Vanthoor, Magnussen and Marciello going on to score their maiden Hypercar wins in the #15 BMW.
The #51 Ferrari shared by Calado, Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi had to settle for second place after an impressive recovery drive from 11th on the grid. Calado had to save fuel in the final stint, preventing him from taking the fight to Vanthoor for victory.
The final spot on the podium went to the polesitting #12 Cadillac crewed by Stevens and Norman Nato as a duo. Following the botched pit stop, the #12 car lost further time when Stevens picked up a five-second penalty for causing a collision with a GT car and Nato was spun around by the #83 Ferrari in the third hour.
The #38 Cadillac bounced back from its own troubles, including a five-second time penalty for contact, with Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais and Jack Aitken finishing fourth. Jota swapped the two cars with 15 minutes remaining to give Aitken a chance of challenging the Ferrari for third, but he dropped back to fourth after failing to close the gap to Calado.
Fifth place went to AF Corse’s satellite #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson after Kubica took advantage of a collision between Robin Frijns and Antonio Fuoco at the exit of Senna S to pass both cars in one go.
Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde, Rene Rast and Robin Frijns finished sixth in #20 BMW, while the #50 Ferrari shared by Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen dropped to eighth after contact left Fuco facing the wrong direction. The incident is being investigated by the stewards.
With the #50 Ferrari losing ground, Tom Gamble claimed seventh in the best of the two Aston Martin Valkyries, the #007 car he shares with Harry Tincknell.
The top 10 was completed by the #009 Aston of Alex Riberas and Marco Sorensen and the #35 Alpine of Milesi, Habsburg and da Costa, with the FCY the French team had hoped for never arriving.
Less than a month after claiming its sixth win at Le Mans, Toyota failed to muster a single point at Sao Paulo. Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries struggled to 12th in the #7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid with a lack of pace, with a pair of penalties for start and FCY infringements adding to their woes. The #8 Toyota shared by Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa propped up the Hypercar field in 17th after spending 12 laps in the pits for repairs. Hartley was involved in an accident with the #17 Genesis of Andre Lotterer in the second hour which left the #8 Toyota with significant suspension damage.
It was an eventual race for Hypecar newcomer Genesis, with Paul-Loup Chatin, Daniel Juncadella and Mathieu Jaminet finishing 13th in the best of the two GMR-001s after being hit with a drive-through penalty for an FCY infringement.
Corvette takes LMGT3 honours
TF Sport scored back-to-back class wins in the WEC following its triumph at Le Mans last month, but it was the #34 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Peter Dempsey, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc that took the top spot this time.
The British squad deployed an unusual strategy, with silver-rated Yoluc starting the race for the team and claiming the lead from Razvan Umbrarescu’s #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3 in the second hour. Although bronze driver Dempsey spent middle sections of the race sharing the track with pros, the #34 Corvette was able to remain in the fight at the front.
Fuel strategy also worked in its favour, with Eastwood crossing the finish line eight seconds clear of the #69 WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Dan Harper, Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson.
The final spot on the podium went to Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Yasser Shahin in the #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3, with Lietz successfully holding off the #88 Proton Ford Mustang GT3 of ex-Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant. The two Fords led early in the race but dropped back down the order, with Sargeant, Gianmarco Levorato and Stefano Gattuso having to settle for fifth place after dropping behind the other Porsche of Timur Boguslavskiy, James Cottingham and Ayhancan Guven in the final minutes.
The #77 Ford ran second in the final hour with Seb Priaulx at the wheel, but rapidly dropped the order on worn tyres before losing further time due to a drive through penalty for a track limits infringement.
Fifth place went to the #61 Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Martin Berry, Maxime Martin and Rui Andrade, despite Andrade being pitched into a spin by Sean Gelael’s BMW midway through the race.
The championship-leading #33 Corvette of Jonny Edgar, Ben Keating and Nicolas Varrone wound up eighth after carrying the maximum success ballast following its win at Le Mans
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– The Autosport.com Team
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