Norman Nato, Alex Lynn and Will Stevens have won the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in the #12 Cadillac, giving Cadillac their first ever WEC win.
As well as that, it’s the first win for the Cadillac/JOTA factory partnership between the two, and JOTA’s second overall win in WEC competition, after winning at Spa last year when they ran customer a customer Porsche.
Second was the sister Cadillac, the #38, driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button, and Earl Bamber, just over a minute off the leading car, which in the final stint had Nato at the wheel.
Third was the #5 Porsche of Julien Andlauer and Michael Christensen, a second off Bourdais in the #38 Cadillac at the line. The two fought for second in the last 15 minutes at the end of the race, but Bourdais fended off his countryman in the Porsche.
The race began with Stevens starting from pole in the #12 Cadillac. However, Andlauer passed him in the second sector of the lap, and led for the most part of his initial two hour stint.
Stevens, now in second, was handed a drivethrough for low tyre pressures midway through the first hour, dropping him to fourth behind the #93 Peugeot of Malthe Jakobsen.
This put Bamber in second onboard the #38 Cadillac. The Kiwi duly set about catching Andlauer, and by the end of the first third of the race, he’d caught him.
Bamber made a small mistake at turn 4 and locked up, but Stevens had caught him and Andlauer and passed his teammate for second. The Briton then pitted at the end of the lap, to be replaced by pole man Alex Lynn.
After the pit stop cycle had shaken out, Lynn led from Michael Christensen, now in the #5 Porsche, replacing Andlauer. Jenson Button, meanwhile, was third in the #38 Cadillac, having replaced Bamber.
Button soon passed Christensen, giving Cadillac a 1-2 at the front of the field.
From then on, for the next almost four hours, the two Cadillacs led the race line of stern, pulling away from the #5 Porsche.
Lynn led trouble-free for his stint, before handing the car over to Norman Nato for the final stint. The Frenchman continued to pull away from his teammate, with the gap standing at 57 seconds at the end of the race.
Bourdais came home second in the sister #38 Cadillac. The car never quite had the pace of the #12 machine, but they were still able to come home second, beating their biggest challengers on the day, Porsche.
Speaking of the German manufacturer, they were the best of the rest in Brazil. Andlauer led early on for the first two hours, but the Cadillacs were able to haul him in and take the lead, despite the penalty for the #12 car.
Once the Cadillacs had solidified the 1-2, it looked as though Porsche would have to settle for third. But, in the final hour, Andlauer, back in the car for the final couple of hours after Christensen’s double stint, was able to catch Bourdais.
The two battled for second in the last hour, but the Porsche driver wasn’t able to find his way around the veteran Frenchman. In the end, he came home third, just under two seconds behind Bourdais.
The sister #6 Porsche finished fourth, with Laurens Vanthoor crossing the line in the car, partnered by Kevin Estre. L. Vanthoor started the car seventh and they were able to make their way through the field through the race to finish fourth, a lap down on the winning #12 Cadillac, overtaking the #20 BMW and both Peugeots through the race to do so.
The #20 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde and Rene Rast finished fifth, 54 seconds off L. Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche. BMW lacked the pace of the cars ahead, but battled both Peugeots and beat both in order to take a top 5 for the German manufacturer.
The two Peugeots were sixth and seventh, with Loic Duval in the #94 car ahead of his teammate in the #93, Mikkel Jensen. While they qualified fourth and fifth, the aforementioned #20 BMW and #6 Porsche were able to overhaul them. But Peugeot will likely take this result, coming off the back of a disastrous Le Mans.
Eighth was the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, the only car from the Italian manufacturer in the top 10. Ferrari lacked pace, the first time this year neither factory car has scored points, but the #83 was able to limit the damage and score points for the drivers’ championship.
Akkodis ASP Lexus take first WEC win
Jose Maria Lopez drove the #87 ASP Lexus to victory in the LMGT3 class, dominating the 6 hour race alongside his teammates Petru Umbrarescu and Clemens Schmid.
Umbrarescu started the car second, behind the polesitting #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin. He was passed on the first lap by Darren Leung in the #95 United Autosports McLaren, but got this position back a lap later and set about hunting down McIntosh in the lead.
He soon got passed Anthony McIntosh in the Aston, on lap 13, and from that moment on, dominated the race. The ASP Lexus team held a 1-2 for a significant portion of the race, but in the end the sister #78 car finished fifth, in the hands of Finn Gehrsitz, Arnold Robin, and Yuichi Nakayama.
Second at the flag was the #81 TF Sport Corvette of Charlie Eastwood. Eastwood stormed through the field in the final couple of hours, passing the #78 Lexus, #85 Iron Dames Porsche of Michelle Gatting, and the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin of Valentin Hasse Clot to finish second. Teammate Tom van Rompuy started the car seventh in class, and they and their teammate Rui Andrade were consistent and methodical in their journey to second.
Third was the polesitting car, the #10 Aston Martin, which Eduardo Barrichello brilliantly took to pole position the previous day. Unfortunately their race pace did not quite stack up to their qualifying pace, but Barrichello was still able to take a podium position at home in Brazil by passing Michelle Gatting in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche late on, to the cheers and jubilation of the crowd.
With Gatting fourth in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche, alongside her teammates Rahel Frey and Celia Martin, fifth went to the sister #78 Lexus of Gehrsitz, Robin, and Nakayama.
