Toyota wins WEC race in Sao Paulo as Porsche Penske secures double podium

On the WEC’s first return to Brazil in over a decade, the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar driven by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa took the overall win at Interlagos, which was attended by 73,205 fans over the weekend.  It also marked the first podium of the year for the No. 8 car.

The winning trio took advantage of a fuel pressure sensor problem for the early race-leading sister No. 7 Toyota driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries. This mid-race issue cost the team three minutes in the pits, dropping the No. 7 to the back of the Hypercar field but the crew did a stellar job of clawing back time to eventually finish fourth.

Porsche Penske Motorsport had another strong weekend after securing a double podium with its pair of Porsche 963 Hypercars.  The No. 6 car suffered a puncture in the opening hour but Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer drove a superb race to finish 1m08s behind race winners Toyota to take the runners-up spot.

Completing the podium was the No.5 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar of Michael Christensen, Matt Campbell and Frederic Makowiecki – the trio would have likely finished in P2 had it now been for a change to the 963’s rear mid-race. Porsche Penske’s double podium sees the German marque continue its lead in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship with a total of 126 points, while Toyota (122 points) moves ahead of Ferrari (109 points).

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse driven by James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi rounded out the top five, the 499P Hypercar pipped to the post by Kamui Kobayashi who made a star overtake in the race’s closing laps to finish 3.824s ahead of the Prancing Horse.

Sixth overall was the No. 50 Le Mans winning Ferrari 499P Hypercar driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.  Finishing seventh was the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA crew driven by Jenson Button, Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen – the trio pinged with a stop-and-go for a technical infringement in the race’s final hour which dropped them out of fourth position.

Peugeot TotalEnergies had an encouraging weekend after the revised No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 driven by Mikkel Jensen, Nico Mueller and Jean-Eric Vergne had a clean race to claim eighth position. Ninth overall was the No.15 BMW M Team WRT run BMW M Hybrid V8 while rounding out the top ten and claiming the final point in the Hypercar standings was the No.36 Alpine A424.

Elsewhere, Cadillac Racing had a difficult weekend as the No. 2 V-Series R finished 13th because of brake issues while Lamborghini Iron Lynx ended the race in 17th place – the SC63 hampered by a puncture and extra pitstop. Finally, Isotta Fraschini and the Tipo 6-C retired from the race due to engine problems.

In the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams, Hertz Team JOTA took first and third place with Proton claiming second.

The FIA WEC season will now take a short summer break before the championship returns to the USA for round six of the season, the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas (30 August – 1 September).