6 Hours of Sao Paulo – Race (H+2): Toyota in control, Iron Dames and Manthey battling

At the start of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, everyone remained relatively calm, even though Toyota No. 8 went straight at the first turn. This had no consequences for Brendon Hartley. And Paul-Loup Chatin, in Alpine No. 35, spun. The Frenchman had to restart in the LMGT3 pack.

The GT category saw Sarah Bovy, who took pole position on Saturday, keep her advantage, ahead of the Porsche No. 92 from Mathey Pure Rx. The two McLarens from United Autosport fought for a corner and No. 95 passed No. 59.

The first jolt of this race was the collision between the Porsche No. 91 from Mathey EMA and the Corvette No. 81 from TF Sport. The championship-leading Porsche spun and was able to continue.

And after a little less than a quarter of an hour, traffic management could start. The Toyotas were leading the Hypercar classification in management mode, without losing time to the Porsche No. 5 chasing them.

This track was very difficult to master and the collisions were multiplying: the Ferrari No. 54 from Vista AF Corse was hit by the Lexus No. 87, the only one entered since No. 78 had withdrawn. The first full course yellow was deployed at 4:44 pm French time to remove some debris.

Behind the almost lone Toyota rider, with numbers 7 and 8, the battle was raging, with a pack of seven cars chasing Earl Bamber on Cadillac No. 2. The private Ferrari of AF Corse, driven by Robert Kubica, even started to climb back towards the top of the standings. The Cadillac eventually gave in and dropped to 6th place.

In LMGT3, the McLarens joined the Porsche No. 92 of Aliaksandr Malykhin for 2nd place, while the twenty minutes of the race had been completed.

At 5 hours and 22 minutes before the end of the race, Yasser Shahin’s Porsche N°91 disrupted the pack: a missed braking that caused him to hit the unfortunate Ferrari N°54 of Thomas Flohr, right in front of Toyota N°7, then an obstruction inflicted on Ferrari N°50 resulted in both a broken rear left rim and penalties. Including a hefty one-minute penalty.

And the agitation was not over: the Jota N°12, threatened by the official Porsche N°6, defended its 4th place. Laurens Vanthoor, leading the drivers’ championship, touched the private Porsche before turn 4 and got a puncture on the front right.

The race time was approaching and Sarah Bovy, leading in the LMGT3, made her first pit stop after an absolutely exemplary first stint. The Belgian stayed behind the wheel of Lamborghini No. 85. In this category, the Ferrari No. 55 from Vista AF Corse managed to take the 3rd place right under the nose of McLaren. And BMW No. 46, driven by Ahmad Al Harty, was also slowly moving up, while its counterpart No. 31 was steadily falling down.

A calmer time on the second hour

The clashes at the start of the race have slightly calmed down for the second hour of the race. The Porsche No. 12 from Jota Racing was also penalized for making contact with No. 6, the championship leader. Will Stevens was given a 30-second stop & go penalty as a result.

Some Hypercars, like the Toyota No. 7, have chosen to keep the same tires. A sign of great mastery on the part of the Japanese team. And the Alpine No. 36, driven from the start by Mick Schumacher, made a really interesting start to the race, in 7th place. There were then 4 hours and 47 minutes left. He was chasing the Ferrari No. 83, which was holding off the Porsche Jota No. 38 driven by Phil Hanson.

One had to keep an eye on the LMGT3 class leader: Sarah Bovy, from the Iron Dames team, was caught up by Malykhin’s Porsche N°92, 4 hours and 36 minutes before the end of the race. All this while a huge group of Hypercars passed them by.

The Ferrari 83, the Cadillac, the Porsche No. 6, the Alpine No. 36, the Ferrari No. 50… all fought on a straight line. Nicklas Nielsen’s Ferrari No. 50 went straight at the first corner and Laurens Vanthoor’s Porsche No. 6 took advantage of the commotion to move up to 7th place. Three abreast, without DRS and using pure strength: it’s magnificent.

And several cars were penalized with a drive-through for not respecting the full course yellow procedure… Including Ferrari No. 51, fighting for a podium position. Antonio Giovinazzi served his penalty after 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Sarah Bovy, on the other hand, had to hand over the controls of the LMGT3 to Malykhin: both are on opposite strategies, since the Iron Dames did not change their tires during the first pit stop. And the full course yellow penalty also claimed a prominent victim: the Toyota No. 7, race leader, which also received a drive-through. Number 8 has taken the lead and Porsche No. 5 has entered the mix.

But Mike Conway then took back his property, facing a N°8 car that was struggling. On the Peugeot side, Nico Müller’s N°93 started to climb up the ranks like a plane, finding itself behind the gearbox of the Ferrari N°83 for 9th place. Part of the explanation comes from the tire differences, but also from a Ferrari that is not in top form. Müller found the opening after 1 hour and 45 minutes of racing.

The pink Lamborghini of the Iron Dames team has finally changed its tires and Rahel Frey took over from Sarah Bovy. The pit stop of Porsche No. 92 allowed Joël Sturm to keep the lead over the Iron Dames.

And the misfortunes of Ferrari No. 83 in the Hypercar category continued: the Porsche No. 99 from Proton, with Julien Andlauer, tried the inside line in turn 5 and made contact with the Ferrari. Alpine No. 35 with Ferdinand Habsburg also came close to trouble.

At the end of the second hour, an unprecedented battle between Alpine No. 36 and the discreet Lamborghini No. 63 was raging for the 10th place. While the Ferrari No. 55 from Vista AF Corse, squeezed by the Lamborghini No. 60 from Iron Lynx, spun out in turn 4.