6 Hours of Sao Paulo – Race: Cadillac takes its first WEC victory

A relatively clean and calm race. Apart from the start and a collision here and there, the entire grid was very clean during these 6 Hours of São Paulo.

Starting from pole, the Cadillac #12 lost the lead after just a few corners following the exceptional start by Julien Andlauer in the Porsche #5. The American car took time to get into the rhythm and eventually quickly caught up with Stuttgart’s hypercar. Despite a drive-through penalty, it regained the lead and took off.

The Day of the Penalized

Behind, the other Cadillac took second place and maintained it until the end. The BoP unfortunately did its job by classifying the cars by brands: the Cadillacs, the Porsches, the surviving BMW (the #15 having had a brake problem after six minutes of racing), then the Peugeots were grouped together.

In GT3, Racing Spirit of Léman started strong before the Lexus cars moved into the lead. Jérôme Policand’s team’s cars had an incredible pace. However, the Iron Dames, after a great comeback, managed to compete with the Japanese cars. But a drive-through penalty caused the female trio, who were then in second place, to drop down.

Ferraris and Toyotas were far behind. Performances that raise questions, given the start of the season for both brands. Did the BoP ruin the pace of the two firms?

Big battle for the podium among the Iron Dames

Reliability issues have not been kind to the Fords. Both Mustangs, which were in the top half of the GT3 standings, remained in the pits. The #88, in fact, retired before the #77 did the same in the final hour.

At the head of the Hypercars, Norman Nato was practically driving with his elbow out the window. The Frenchman had nearly a minute lead over the sister car once the last pit stops were completed. Despite a drive-through penalty early in the race, this lead was substantial.

This race favored those penalized by a drive-through: the #12 Cadillac, first in Hypercar, the #87 Lexus, first in GT3, and the #85 Porsche, fourth in GT3, were sanctioned in this way.

Peugeot and Alpine in the points

If there was no suspense for the podium in Hypercar, in GT3, it was a different story. The Iron Dames fought hard in the last 25 minutes to secure their first podium of the season. After nearly a quarter of an hour battling against the #81 Corvette, Michelle Gatting eventually conceded. With her tires in agony, the Danish driver defended as best as she could against Eduardo Barrichello, but the Brazilian was too fast. Consequently, the #10 Aston Martin achieved its first podium in WEC.

The Peugeots benefited from a favorable BoP to secure the sixth and seventh places. There is improvement for the 9X8. The Alpine #36 finished in ninth position, with the other ending the race in last place after a battery problem at the start of the race.