Toyota Gazoo Racing took a comfortable victory at Interlagos in the 6 Hours of São Paulo ahead of the two works Porsche 963s. The #8 GR010 Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa crossed the line a minute ahead of the second-placed #6 Porsche.
The Japanese manufacturer’s performance in Brazil marks a return to form for the reigning world champions, after a sub-par result in Spa and a disappointing finish to the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The trio in the #8 made a solid start to the race, but trailed the sister #7 car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries after the first couple of hours. Conway had made a blistering start from pole and led comfortably, until a drive-through penalty for full-course yellow infractions and a fuel pump issue saw the #7 tumble down the field.
No such misfortune befell the #8 car, and Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa brought the car home with relative ease to mark their first win of the season. The #7 Toyota recovered thanks to some excellent driving by Kobayashi and de Vries, and particularly Mike Conway, who was still suffering the effects of the bike crash that ruled him out of Le Mans.
Porsche defends championship lead
Porsche managed to sure up their lead in both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championships by completing the podium. The #6 963 of Estre/Vanthoor/Lotterer turned a collision with the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche (for which driver Will Stevens received a drive-through penalty) earlier in the race to their strategic advantage.
Just a handful of seconds down the road was the #5 Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki, which had to settle for P3 despite a strong showing at Interlagos.
Ferrari only manage fifth, Peugeot “best of the rest”
Ferrari were unable to find the pace at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace to fight at the sharp end of the field for the entire duration of the race. The best the Italian manufacturer could manage was fifth position for the #51 car. The #50 car – whose drivers Antonio Fuoco, Niklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina were second in the championship prior to Interlagos – finished down in sixth.
Peugeot put in arguably their best performance since the opening round in Qatar with a P8 finish for the #93 car of Mikkel Jensen, Nico Müller and Jean-Eric Vergne. The #15 BMW and the #36 Alpine rounded out the top 10.
Manthey PureRxcing dominates LMGT3
Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler continued their excellent season in the #92 Mathey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R by taking a comprehensive victory at Interlagos. The trio were the main beneficiaries of yet more technical issues for the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini, which qualified on pole and was leading before being forced into early retirement due to leaking fluids.
The #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin finished a solid second in class. Third was the #95 United Autosports McLaren, marking the manufacturer’s maiden WEC podium.
The WEC now takes a summer break before returning in September with the Lone Star Le Mans event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Details of the remaining rounds of the season can be found here, and all the latest championship standings are available here.