Метка: Interlagos

Porsche abandons WEC/IMSA engine revision plan

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Porsche has finally abandoned plans to introduce a revised engine for its 963 LMDh World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship contender.

The update, which was centred on a switch to a 90° crankshaft from a 180° or flat-plane crank, is now “dead”, according to Urs Kuratle, project boss on the 963 at Porsche Motorsport.

“We are not doing the crankshaft; it is not going to happen,” said Kuratle, whose comments represent the final confirmation that the revised version of the 4.6-litre twin-turbo V8 has been dropped.

Kuratle had said ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours double-points WEC round in June that it would continue with the existing unit if it came through the French enduro without major reliability issues that could be traced to the engine.

“Maybe it will be cancelled,” Kuratle told Motorsport.com in the wake of the pre-Le Mans WEC round at Spa in early May.

“We have been to all these races [in WEC and IMSA] this year and we have had no reliability issues, so why introduce it?”

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Porsche motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach pointed out that the German manufacturer had no problems at Le Mans on the way to a best finish of fourth, as well getting four cars home in the top 10.

“The car is extremely reliable and the car is fast, so why should we touch it?” he said.

Porsche started development of the revised V8 last year in an effort to reduce vibration, which it believed was adversely affecting the reliability of the off-the-shelf hybrid system mandated under the LMDh rules.

Laudenbach described it as a “workaround” aimed at putting less vibration into the bell-housing mounted motor generator unit (MGU) supplied by Bosch Motorsport.

Subsequent upgrades of the energy-retrieval system over last winter that came in time for Porsche to take victory in the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA season-opener in January overcame the hybrid reliability issues.

Porsche revealed the existence of the revised engine early this year, but never committed to racing it. It only ran on the test bench and never in a car.

The engine would most likely have counted as a so-called evo joker upgrade allowed under the LMDh and Le Mans Hypercar rules.

Neither Laudenbach nor Kuratle would be drawn on whether Porsche will invoke one of the five jokers allowed over the initial five-year lifespan of the 963 for next season.

“Of course, we will try to make some improvements for next year,” said Laudenbach. He would not reveal if that would include playing a joker.

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Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar set for «full-blown test programme»

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The maiden runs for the Aston Martin Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar have been billed as a “great foundation” for the test programme leading into its competition debut next season.

Adam Carter, Aston’s head of endurance motorsport, made the claim after the Valkyrie AMR-LMH undertook its first two days of circuit testing at Silverstone and then Donington Park last week, as the British manufacturer builds up to its entry into the respective Hypercar and GTP classes of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship.

“We set an ambitious but achievable target and we completed our aims,” he told Motorsport.com.

“It has been a long journey with a lot of commitment from a lot of parties to get to this milestone, but it just marks the beginning of the next stage of the journey. It was a great foundation to take the car forward into a full-blown test programme.”

That will begin imminently, Carter explained. “Between now and going into competition next year we have a very sizeable test programme planned and we will be active every few weeks,” he said.

“We have a very solid target and our first running in the shakedown has given some cautious optimism of being able to achieve that.”

Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH

Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH

Photo by: Aston Martin

The car was run over the course of the two days by a mixture of personnel from the US-headquartered Heart of Racing team, which will field the Valkyrie in both WEC and IMSA, and the Aston Martin Performance Technologies group leading the programme.

It completed more than 300 miles over last week’s test outings at Silverstone on Tuesday and Donington on Thursday.

The test at Silverstone was undertaken by Harry Tincknell, who is contracted to Multimatic Motorsport, a key partner in both the development and running of the Valkyrie. Longtime Aston driver Darren Turner and HoR regular Mario Farnbacher then took over driving duties at Donington.

Carter wouldn’t be drawn on whether Aston and HoR would give the AMR-LMH its race debut at next January’s Daytona 24 Hours, the opening IMSA round of the season.

That was put into doubt by Aston’s press statement on the release of photographs of the Valkyrie running at Donington in camouflage livery. It talked of a “competitive debut early in 2025” without mentioning Daytona, which suggests its first race could be delayed until the 10-hour WEC season-opener in Qatar at the end of February.

“The first milestone was to get the car running, the next one for me is the homologation date,” Carter told Motorsport.com. “There is a lot to be learned between now and the homologation — that is my key focus. Let’s get to the homologation point and see where we are.”

HoR will field a single Valkyrie in IMSA, while it will make a pair of entries in WEC in line with the new rule mandating that manufacturer teams in Hypercar run two cars.



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Toyota issued suspended €10,000 fine for WEC BoP comments

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Toyota has been hit with a suspended €10,000 fine for comments made by race director Rob Leupen on the World Endurance Championship’s Balance of Performance, in contravention of series regulations.

The fine, equivalent to £8,400/$7,700, is the first time that a penalty has been applied for a breach of a rule that has been in place since the beginning of last season.

It was invoked by the stewards of the meeting at the Interlagos round of the WEC last weekend.

They considered his comments reported on the Dutch and Italian editions of Motorsport.com last week to be “a serious breach of the regulations”.

They argued that they “call into question the impartiality of the FIA” and have “the direct consequence of casting doubt on the integrity of the sporting results of the championship and damaging their credibility”.

Because it was the first time a penalty had been applied under the rule, the stewards decided the fine would be suspended until the end of the year pending no further violation by anyone associated with Toyota Gazoo Racing.

“All competitors are put on notice that future violations may not receive a suspended penalty,” the stewards’ report concluded.

Leupen said that the late Hypercar class BoP change ahead of the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours “wasn’t compliant with the regulations”.

Rob Leupen, Toyota race director

Rob Leupen, Toyota race director

Photo by: Toyota Gazoo Racing

It ran contrary to the guidelines agreed by the manufacturers competing in Hypercars, though the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, which jointly administer the WEC, retained the right to change the BoP.

He went on to say that he had no complaints about the BoP in place under the new 2024 procedures at Le Mans this year, but made a call for greater transparency.

“This year it was better, but even in this case, you notice that the process for the BoP is not transparent,” he said.

“You can transparently define the processes on which the BoP is based.

“You could say: ‘Here they are and this is the way we’re going to do it’. And then you could also get feedback.

“We give it after every race, it’s just that we do not receive it in return.

“The traffic is one-way. It doesn’t work. We need to work together to improve the situation.”

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Ferrari laments «helplessness» in WEC battle with Toyota in Brazil

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Ferrari has expressed “frustration and a sense of helplessness” at its inability to challenge for a podium in Sunday’s Interlagos round of the World Endurance Championship.

The statement was made by Ferrari’s head of sportscar racing Antonello Coletta after the Italian manufacturer’s pair of 499P Le Mans Hypercars finished only fifth and sixth in the Sao Paolo 6 Hours.

He claimed that it was “impossible to achieve a better result” without mentioning the Balance of Performance that was in place for the Brazilian round of the WEC.

Coletta’s comments and those of its technical boss, Ferdinando Cannizzo, suggest that Ferrari believes it was held back by the BoP, though they did not specifically mention it through fear of sanction from the race stewards.

Manufacturers, teams and drivers are prohibited from talking publicly about the BoP in the series’ sporting regulations.

The Ferrari was the least powerful car on the grid last weekend at 503kW (674bhp) and, along with the race-winning Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH, the heaviest at 1060kg.

The Toyota, however, was racing at 506kW (678bhp) maximum power and also had a 2.8% increase above 250km/h (155bhp) under the new power gain feature of the BoP introduced at Le Mans compared with 1.8% for Ferrari.

“With the maximum [highest] weight and the lowest power it is very difficult to find the right window to optimise the car,” said Cannizzo.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

He also suggested that the lack of power made it difficult for the Ferraris to overtake on the tight and narrow 2.68-mile Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.

“This means that sometimes when you are stuck in traffic you can lose a lot, especially on a short track like this with a lot of cars per kilometre,” explained Cannizzo.

He pointed out how easy it was for Kamui Kobayashi in the delayed #7 Toyota to overtake the #51 Ferrari with Alessandro Pier Guidi at the wheel for fourth place in the closing minutes of the race.

“The day can be described by the overtake the #7 Toyota made on #51,” he said.

“It came back from three minutes back in a few stints. That is the situation; that is what everyone has to think about.”

Cannizzo went on to say that he didn’t believe Ferrari and the factory AF Corse team could have done much more at Interlagos.

“We were happy about what we did: we were happy about the tyre strategy and except for the drive-through [for #51] we had no problems,” he said.

“The race was quite good and the drivers were quite happy, but very disappointed being unable to fight.”

Ferrari introduced its first evo joker upgrade on the 499P at Interlagos and Cannizzo said that it could potentially have found slightly more performance from its package.

“There are maybe a few tenths that can be extracted, [but] it is not what we were missing,” he noted.

“The big challenge ahead of us is to stay with our feet on the ground and try to digest this, and hope that in the coming races we are able to be competitive again.”

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Hartley concedes WEC title despite Toyota #8 winning at Interlagos

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Reigning World Endurance Championship title winners Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa have all but conceded the crown despite winning Sunday’s Interlagos round.

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Hartley believes that even after taking maximum race points in the Sao Paulo 6 Hours and moving from eighth to fifth place in the championship, the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID will be playing what he called a “supporting role” to the sister Le Mans Hypercar over the remainder of the campaign.

“We know that the championship is a long shot and were thinking that way before we came here to Brazil,” said Hartley, who along with Buemi and Hirakawa arrived in Brazil trailing team-mates Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries by 38 points.

“We thought we were going to be playing a back-up role here, but we ended up winning the race, though I’m not sure it changes much.

“The #7 car is in the better position in the championship and I’m pretty sure we are going to be supporting them over the coming races. I think that’s going to be our job over the rest of the season.

“There’s also the manufacturers’ championship to consider, which Toyota really wants to win again, and we’re going to have to play our part there.”

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Hartley pointed out that the championship-leading Porsche crew of Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre “scored good points” in Brazil, which will make any comeback by the drivers of the #8 Toyota that much more difficult.

The New Zealander conceded that the #7 entry was the quicker of the two Toyotas in Brazil and would have won but for a fuel pressure problem early in the third hour that resulted in the loss of three minutes when a control unit was changed in the sidepod.

“We got the victory but #7 was flying today — they went a different direction on set-up,” explained Hartley. “They were quicker than us and had much less tyre deg.”

Conway, who was returning to the Toyota line-up after missing last month’s Le Mans 24 Hours through injury, built up a clear lead over Hartley in the early laps and was back in the lead after taking a drive-through penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement before the second round of pitstops. 

Hartley explained that the grip from his Michelin tyres “fell off the cliff” in the closing laps of his opening double stint.

The #8 car moved into the lead when the sister Toyota encountered its problem as Conway handed over de Vries and went on to control the remainder of the race before taking victory by more than a minute.

De Vries and Kobayashi were able to fight back up to fourth, which allowed them to retain third place in the championship behind the Porsche Penske Motorsport crew and Le Mans-winning Ferrari drivers Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina.

Conway is seventh in the points courtesy of his absence from Le Mans after breaking his collarbone and two ribs in a cycling accident.

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Toyota dominates to defeat Porsche

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


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 late drive-through following a tyre pressure infringement on 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

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

#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.

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Alpine confident of avoiding Le Mans engine issue in Sao Paulo WEC race

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Alpine is confident it can overcome the engine problem that resulted in the early end to its Le Mans 24 Hours assault in Sunday’s Interlagos World Endurance Championship round. 

The French manufacturer has revealed that its two A424 LMDhs went out of Le Mans last month inside the first six hours as a result of a valve issue, a problem which Alpine and its Signatech factory team were aware going into the double-points round of the WEC. 

No new parts have been introduced for the Sao Paolo 6 Hours this weekend, but Signatech team boss Philippe Sinault told Autosport/Motorsport.com that Alpine will “manage the engine in a different way to avoid having this problem again”. 

He added that he expected that the value issue would not return over the course of six hours of racing in Brazil. 

Alpine motorsport boss Bruno Famin revealed in the wake of Le Mans that the marque had not been “totally confident with the reliability” of the 3.4-litre single-turbo V6 developed out of the Mecachrome Formula 2 engine going into the race. 

Sinault expanded on that ahead of the race at Interlagos, explaining that the valve problem had occurred in testing prior to Le Mans.

“We have had this problem before, but never so early — we were a little surprised [at Le Mans] to be honest,” he explained.

“In testing when we had this issue with the valve it was always after we had completed 24 hours.”

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Sinault explained that new engine parts aimed at eradicating the problem are under development at Alpine’s Viry-Chatillon engine HQ on the outskirts of Paris and that he is expecting their arrival before the end of the 2024 campaign. 

The #36 Alpine completed only four laps in second free practice at Interlagos on Saturday. 

The car underwent what Sinault described as a precautionary turbo change. 

Neither A424 made it through into the Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

Mick Schumacher ended up 11th in the #36 Alpine, missing the cut by just under two tenths of a second. 

Charles Milesi was a further four hundredths back in 13th position in #35 A424, both cars ending up within seven tenths of the session-topping Porsche 963 LMDh driven by Matt Campbell. 

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Kobayashi claims pole in Toyota 1-2

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Toyota claimed its first pole position of the 2024 World Endurance Championship campaign as it blocked out the front row for Sunday’s Sao Paulo 6 Hours.

Kamui Kobayashi took the top spot in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID in the 10-minute Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

The Japanese driver’s 1m23.140s around the Interlagos circuit gave him a a margin of just over one tenth from team-mate Sebastien Buemi in the sister #8 Toyota Le Mans Hypercar.

Buemi, who was qualifying a Toyota for the first time since the 2019/20 WEC series opener at Silverstone, jumped to second with a 1m23.262s.

Matt Campbell, bidding for a third pole in five races this season, ended up third in the best of the factory Penske-run Porsche 963 LMDhs on a 1m23.331s.

Alex Lynn took fourth position for Cadillac, the Brit setting a 1m23.396s in the solo Ganassi-run V-Series.R LMDh.

The second Porsche Penske Motorsport entry with Le Mans 24 Hours pole winner Kevin Estre driving took fifth position on a 1m23.408s.

Top Ferrari driver was Antonio Fuoco in the Le Mans-winning entry in sixth with a 1m23.532s in the #50 499P LMH.

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Callum Ilott claimed seventh for the Jota customer Porsche team ahead of team-mate Jenson Button in the British team’s sister entry, just six hundredths separating the two cars.

The second AF Corse-run factory Ferrari ended up ninth in the hands of Alessandro Pier Guidi, while Robin Frijns, whose late lap had sent him through to the final round of qualifying, ended up 10th in the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh.

The Dutch driver’s 1m24.078s was, however, still within a second of the pace.

Neither Alpine nor Peugeot made it through to Hyperpole after failing to get in the top 10 positions in the 12-minute opening session.

Mick Schumacher ended up 11th in the best of the Alpine A424 LMDhs and team-mate Charles Milesi 13th in the sister car, though both cars were within seven tenths of Campbell who topped the times in Q1.

The two Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs were 16th and 17th in the hands of Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Lamborghini on top in LMGT3

Sarah Bovy took a second LMGT3 class pole of the year in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting

#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

She posted a 1m34.413s in the Iron Lynx-run car to end up nearly four tenths clear of the 1m34.804s with which Aliaksandr Malykhin claimed second in the Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3-R during the 10-minute Hyperpole session.

The two United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos took third and fourth on the grid, Josh Caygill edging out James Cottingham by just five hundredths of a second.

Yasser Shahin took fifth in the championship-leading Manthey EMA Porsche despite carrying 45kg of success ballast.

The Sao Paulo 6 Hours, round five of the 2024 WEC, begins at 11:30 local time on Sunday.

WEC Sao Paulo — Hypercar Hyperpole results

WEC Sao Paulo — Hypercar LMGT3 results 



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Jota leads final practice top three sweep for Porsche

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Jota’s Callum Ilott headed a tight final practice session for the World Endurance Championship’s Interlagos round with the top three split by less than a tenth.

Ilott headed a Porsche 963 LMDh clean sweep of the top three, his customer Jota car beating the two factory Porsche Penske Motorsport entries with a benchmark effort of 1m24.297s set shortly before the track was declared wet.

Conditions never deteriorated to the point that wet tyres were required, but Ilott’s time held to the end of the hour-long session.

Matt Campbell was just 0.012s slower than the winner of the WEC’s Spa 6 Hours earlier this year, while Kevin Estre was 0.093s behind in third.

Charles Milesi was fourth in the leading Alpine A424, clocking in 0.347s off the pace, fractionally ahead of Dries Vanthoor’s WRT-run BMW M Hybrid V8.

Daniil Kvyat’s Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 and Jenson Button in the second Jota Porsche completed an LMDh lockout of the top seven, with Le Mans winner Antonio Fuoco’s factory Ferrari 499P the top Le Mans Hypercar in eighth.

Robert Shwartzman in the customer AF Corse-run Ferrari was ninth, ahead of the #93 Peugeot 9X8 LMH in which Jean-Eric Vergne visited the Turn 1 run-off.

Mick Schumacher set the 11th fastest time in the second Alpine, which caused the session’s most noteworthy incident when Matthieu Vaxiviere spun Carl Wattana Bennett’s Isotta Fraschini Tipo6 at Turn 8.

#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler

#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

After heading the timesheets in Friday’s second practice, the two Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs were only 13th and 14th, with Nyck de Vries and Sebastien Buemi respectively setting the times aboard the #7 and #8 machines.

The LMGT3 times continued to tumble after the rain began to fall, with joint championship leader Alexander Malykhin ultimately setting the pace in the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The bronze-rated driver posted two laps quick enough for the top spot, with his best effort of 1m35.488s putting him 0.062s quicker than Nico Pino’s United Autosports McLaren.

Sarah Bovy made it three different manufacturers in the top three positions with third in her Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan Evo2, 0.151s behind Malykhin, while Gregoire Saucy completed a strong session for McLaren with fourth in the second United entry.

Qualifying for Sunday’s Sao Paulo 6 Hours begins at 14:30 local time.

WEC Sao Paulo — FP3 results



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