Ryo Hirakawa is in control at Interlagos for Toyota, with two hours to go in the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo.
The Japanese driver, onboard the #8 Toyota, has around a 45 second gap to the #5 Porsche of Michael Christensen. Andre Lotterer in the sister #6 Porsche was third before pitting, promoting James Calado in the #51 Ferrari to the final podium position. He ran ahead of Lotterer in the third hour but was overtaken by the veteran German in the Porsche. Calado still has to pit, which will put the #6 Porsche back onto the provisional podium.
The #7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries led for much of the first half the race and was dominating, with the #8 second. But, a long 3 minute pit stop to repair the #7 Toyota’s control unit for the fuel system meant the car dropped to almost the back of the Hypercar field. Since then, the two Porsches have been chasing the Toyota in the lead, but Hirakawa has slowly extended the gap.
The top Ferrari so far is the #51 machine of James Calado. Calado was third but was overtaken by Lotterer.
Fifth is Oliver Rasmussen in the #38 JOTA Porsche, while in sixth is the #93 Peugeot of Mikkel Jensen. The two Danes dueled for position for many laps, with Jensen defending hard against an attacking, feisty Rasmussen. While the Peugeot driver was valiant he eventually lost the position at the last true corner on the track, before the long, banked ‘straight’ leading back to turn 1.
Jensen was ahead of the other JOTA Porsche, the #12 car of Norman Nato, but the Frenchman pitted, promoting the #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina to the position.
In LMGT3, #92v Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R’s Klaus Bachler leads, and has done since taking the lead off the Iron Dames Lamborghini an hour in.
The Dames, while Rahel Frey at the wheel, were second for a long time, behind Sturm, but when Frey brought the car in for a fuel service — tyres, fuel, and a driver change to teammate Michelle Gatting — the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 overheated, steaming water liked a boiled kettle. The car was pushed back into the garage and hasn’t returned to the track since.
So, with the Dames out, second is the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Alex Riberas, around 20 seconds off Bachler. Third is Marino Sato in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3.
