WEC Sao Paulo: Toyota dominates to defeat Porsche

Toyota dominated at Interlagos on the way to a second World Endurance Championship victory of the season on Sunday.

The Japanese manufacturer’s #8 GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar shared by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi took the victory laurels in the Sao Paolo 6 Hours by a clear margin ahead of the two Penske-run factory Porsche 963 LMDhs.

Buemi crossed the line 1m08s ahead of the #6 Porsche driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre, which in turn was 7s up on the sister car of Frederic Makowiecki, Michael Christensen and Matt Campbell.

Toyota led the way for the majority of the race and would almost certainly have finished 1-2 but for a rare technical problem for the sister #7 entry of Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi.

Theirs was the faster of the two GR010s in the fifth round of the 2024 WEC and led the way through the opening double stint until an issue with a fuel pressure sensor when Conway handed over to de Vries early in the third hour cost the car three minutes.

Conway had built up a lead of 18s over Hartley when he had to take a drive-through penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement, but was quickly back ahead of his team-mate and able to rebuild an advantage before he stopped.

De Vries and then Kobayashi were able to haul the car up the order, the Japanese bringing the car first into the top six and then up to fourth in the final hour.

The Japanese driver passed Alessandro Pier Guidi’s Ferrari 499P LMH with five minutes to go shortly after Jenson Button had stopped out of fourth place for a drive-through penalty for a tyre pressure infringement with the #38 Jota customer Porsche.

The Toyota was able to make the medium compound Michelin work on the aggressive Interlagos surface and in higher temperatures encountered during practice and qualifying.

Its two GR010s ran exclusively on the softer of the two tyres available in Sao Paulo, whereas Porsche and Ferrari also used the hard during the race.

Start action (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Both Porsche Penske Motorsport entries ran into minor delays over the course of the six hours.

The #6 entry sustained a puncture early on after Vanthoor had a coming together with Will Stevens in the #12 Jota Porsche, which resulted in the Briton receiving a 30s penalty.

The championship-leading PPM car looked set to finish behind the team’s other entry before #5 lost 20s to a change of the tail section after contact with an LMGT3 class entry when Christensen handed over to Campbell.

Kobayashi crossed the line 7s behind Campbell and just half that margin ahead of the Ferrari Pier Guidi co-drove with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi.

The Italian car was delayed by a drive-through for a Full Course Yellow infringement early in the race, but the manufacturer never looked like repeating its Le Mans 24 Hours victory of last month.

The second of the AF Corse-run factory 499Ps, the Le Mans-winning entry shared by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina, rounded out the top six on a day that it couldn’t match the sister car.

The best of the Jota cars, in which Button was joined by Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen, ended up seventh.

Peugeot took eighth place with the #93 9X8 2024 shared by Nico Muller, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne.

The revised version of the French manufacturer’s LMH produced its best showing so far, Muller making progress up the order on the hard tyre when temperatures were approaching their hottest.

BMW took ninth with the WRT-run M Hybrid V8 LMDh shared by Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann, while Alpine snuck into the points with the #36 A424 LMDh shared by Mick Schumacher, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.

Cadillac failed to follow up on Alex Lynn’s fourth place on the grid, the V-Series.R he shared with Earl Bamber ending up 13th after encountering brake issues.

#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Porsche took a fourth LMGT3 class victory in fives races and the Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 GT3-R shared by Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm and Alex Malykhin a second of the season.

They dominated proceedings on the way to a one-lap victory over the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 driven by Alex Riberas, Daniel Mancinelli and Ian James.

Malykhin trailed the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 driven by class pole winner Sarah Bovy until midway through their opening double stint when he was able to move past a car that was clearly struggling on its tyres and then move into a clear lead.

The Iron Lynx-run Lambo was firmly established in second place in the middle stages of the race with Rahel Frey at the wheel when it lost coolant.

After 16 minutes in its box, the car briefly returned to the track before the Italian team retired the Huracan.

Riberas closed in on Bachler late in the penultimate hour, getting to within 4s before their final short pitstops.

The gap went out to 16s after the Aston took four Goodyear tyres and the Porsche only two before coming back down to the 4s after a late FCY.

Riberas was deemed, however, to have violated the FCY regulations and was handed a drive-through.

Third place went to the best of the two United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos in which Marino Sato was joined by Nicolas Pino and Josh Caygill.

They ended up 48s in arrears of the Aston on the way to taking a first podium for the Anglo-American team on its return to the GT ranks in the WEC this year.

Race result:

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Retirement	Points
1	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	236	-		5
2	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	236	+1'08.811 1'08.811	1'08.811	5
3	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	236	+1'15.993 1'15.993	7.182	5
4	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	236	+1'23.571 1'23.571	7.578	6
5	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	236	+1'27.395 1'27.395	3.824	6
6	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	235	+1 Lap 25.049	1 Lap	5
7	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	235	+1 Lap 34.827	9.778	6
8	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	235	+1 Lap 1'07.922	33.095	5
9	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	235	+1 Lap 1'17.967	10.045	5
10	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	234	2 laps		5
11	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	234	+2 Laps 6.455	6.455	6
12	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	P. Chatin F. Habsburg C. Milesi	Alpine A424	234	+2 Laps 17.040	10.585	5
13	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	234	+2 Laps 35.728	18.688	6
14	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	234	+2 Laps 37.517	1.789	5
15	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	234	+2 Laps 49.110	11.593	6
16	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	234	+2 Laps 1'00.083	10.973	5
17	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	234	+2 Laps 1'04.303	4.220	6
18	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott N. Nato	Porsche 963	233	3 laps		7
19	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	214	22 laps		6
20	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	213	23 laps		7
21	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	213	+23 Laps 1'21.296	1'21.296	6
22	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	212	24 laps		7
23	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	212	+24 Laps 38.124	38.124	6
24	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	212	+24 Laps 38.937	0.813	7
25	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	212	+24 Laps 44.004	5.067	6
26	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	212	+24 Laps 46.199	2.195	7
27	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	212	+24 Laps 1'37.917	51.718	7
28	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	211	25 laps		7
29	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	211	+25 Laps 1'29.186	1'29.186	6
30	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	209	27 laps		9
31	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	C. Ried M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	208	28 laps		8
32	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	208	+28 Laps 1'13.879	1'13.879	8
33	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	191	45 laps		7
34	Isotta Fraschini HYPERCAR	11	A. Serravalle C. Bennett J. Vernay	Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione LMH	149	87 laps		5	Retirement
35	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy R. Frey M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	139	97 laps		5	Retirement
36	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	133	103 laps		6	Retirement
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