Plenty of rain and high humidity could make for a challenging Six Hours of Sao Paulo.
Following a race of mixed conditions at the 24 Hours of Lemans last month, the World Endurance Championship heads to the only race to be held in the Southern Hemisphere during winter. The Six Hours of Sao Paulo event will be held at the famed Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The area is built on two lakes, hence its name, and is famous for its racing heroes, such as Ayrton Senna, Carlos Pace, Emerson Fitipaldi, and Felipe Massa, all of whom made names for themselves in Formula 1 racing.
This is the first time in a few years that this race is back at the Interlagos location—a circuit that is very short in lap distance compared to the rest of the tracks this season. This weekend’s fifth round of the championship has both the Hypercar class and the LMGT3 division returning to this part of the world.
In the hypercar class, beginning with the World Cup for manufacturers, the Hertz Team JOTA Porsche number 12 leads with 128 points, followed by the Proton Porsche with 71. Third is the AF Corse team, just coming off a 1-3 result in the last round at Lemans with 67. For the same class of manufacturers, Porsche is ahead with 108, closely followed by Ferrari with 99, and the Toyota Gazoo Team is close by with 96. For the driver’s competition, Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre, and Laurens Vantoor, all Porsche drivers from the Penske squad, are tied with 99 points.
The standings are much closer in the first season of the LMGT3 championship. In the team’s event, Manthey EMA and their Porsche rivals from Manthey Purerxing are tied for the lead with 75 points, with the WRT Team closely in third with 73. In the individual standings, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz, and Yasser Shahin, all EMA drivers, are tied for the lead with 75 points each.
Following this race, the championship will go to Austin, Texas, in September, followed two weeks later in Japan at Fuji. Then, in November, the season will close in Bahrain.
