Toyota Triumph In Gripping 6 Hours Of São Paulo

Toyota Gazoo Racing have taken victory at the 6 Hours of São Paulo. The #8 car, driven by Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa, put on a dominant display at the 5th round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship taking their first podium of the year in triumphant style. The championship leading #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 claimed 2nd, returning to the podium once again, ahead of the sister #5 Porsche, completing another very strong result for the German team.

The Japanese team looked dominant in qualifying, locking out the front row of the grid. Drama early on in the race for the #7 car knocked them out of contention for the win, but they achieved a remarkable comeback, finishing 4th after a daring late lunge against the #51 Ferrari AF Corse in the dying moments of the race.

Toyota lead the way at the race start. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

In LMGT3, Manthey PureRxcing continued their dominant run of form, claiming another victory and extending their championship lead. The Heart of Racing Team took another 2nd position, followed by a great performance by the United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo car.

Driver Reaction

Buemi, the man who brought the winning car over the line, said after the race “we had a good weekend with the 1-2 in qualifying and now winning the race. It’s a shame for the #7 car. They had a great car and were fast today. It was still good that they managed to recover to p4. For us, it was good to finally nail the weekend with no issues. One of the strengths of the car is that we are quite kind on the tyres which meant we could use the mediums throughout the race which helped for sure.“

“We haven’t had the best start to the year” agreed fellow #8 driver Brendon Hartley. “We led a lot of Le Mans but only ended up with 5th, the way it fell in the end. This victory feels nice. We came here going we’re going for p1 or nothing! We ended with first place and right now that’s all that matters.“

Race Report

Mike Conway locks up at the start in the #7 Toyota. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

The race was an intriguing, enticing, captivating race with battles up and down both classes throughout the race from start to finish. Drama at the start as Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota went straight on at the first corner, locking up the brakes and having to shortcut through the Senna Esses. The Japanese car made it back into second position, defending hard from the #5 Porsche.

Contact between Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche and Will Stevens in the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche resulted in a puncture for the #6 car. After pitting for repairs and new tyres, Vanthoor was at the back of the Hypercar pack, out of sequence with strategies, and a lot of work to do to climb back up the order. Stevens was handed a 30 second penalty for the incident, dropping the #12 car out of the top ten and out of the points.

The championship leading #6 Porsche back on the podium. Currently their worst finish in 2024 is 4th. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

The lead in LMGT3 changed after an hour and a half of racing. The Iron Dames kept their lead for the first part of the race. Championship leading Manthey PureRxcing was chasing down the Lamborghini. Aliaksandr Malykhin made a superb move round the outside of turn 10 at the 90 minute mark, holding alongside the Iron Dames on the left hand swoop down through turn 11, ensuring the Porsche was in the lead by Junção.

The leading #7 Toyota was struck with fuel issues after 2 hours of being in control of the race. Nyck de Vries, who was at the wheel, lost three minutes due to having to wait in the pits as repairs took place, coming back out in 17th place. The Dutch driver put on a sterling display to drag his car back up the order as the race progressed.

At the halfway point, Ryo Hirakawa in his #8 Toyota had stretched a lead of 30 seconds from Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport car, who himself had a lead of 28 seconds ahead of James Calado in the #51 Ferrari AF Corse car. In LMGT3, Manthey PureRxcing could open up a gap ahead of the Iron Dames. Rahel Frey, having lost the lead, needed to make her Lamborghini as wide as possible to defend from Daniel Mancinelli in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin, allowing Manthey to break away.

The Iron Dames performed valiantly but suffered yet more bad luck in 2024. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

De Vries made it back into the points at the 3:40:00 mark, the Dutchman continuing his stunning recovery drive. At the same time, the Iron Dames were forced into the garage. Coolant was pouring out of the pink Lamborghini which was steaming like a kettle. The extremely fast crew are unable to get any luck at all in the 2024 season.

At 4:15:00 the #5 Porsche received a black and orange flag, meaning that it had to pit to repair damage to the rear right corner of the car, allowing the #8 Toyota a little more breathing room at the front. The #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies was demonstrating excellent pace, frequently heading up to 2nd on the track as the pit stops cycled through. Meanwhile, the #8 Toyota extended its lead to 50 seconds over the 2nd place #6 Porsche, which had achieved a remarkable recovery drive.

The Peugeot cars demonstrated encouraging pace throughout the race. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

A battle between the #35 Alpine, having a stunning race in 3rd position, and the #51 Ferrari pushed the Italian car back into the clutches of the #5 Porsche, with Jenson Button catching them rapidly in the #38 Porsche with 1:30:00 left to race. The Alpine headed into the pits having dropped the Ferrari into the clutches of the #5 Porsche. Further down, Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW M Team WRT car made a great move around the outside of the #83 Ferrari with 1:05:00 left on the clock, creating a side by side battle reminiscent of the moment at Le Mans which put the BMW out of the race. Revenge for Vanthoor as he made that move stick for 11th position.

As the final hour of racing got underway, Callum Ilott in the #12 Porsche unfortunately span at turn 4 on stone cold tyres, reversing into the tyre barriers and losing his rear wing. He was forced into the garage for repairs, dropping him out of a good finish position. Meanwhile, in LMGT3, Heart of Racing team put in a superb drive to close the gap to class leaders Manthey PureRxcing from one minute down to just 3 seconds in the final hour.

Manthey PureRxcing extend their championship lead in dominant form. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

With 35 minutes to go, the #6 and #5 Porsches were less than a second apart, battling for 2nd position. With just 4 minutes to go, Kamui Kobayashi made an astonishing move at the first corner, sending his #7 Toyota into 4th after seemingly being written off due to fuel issues earlier in the race, and relegating the #51 Ferrari to 5th. Out front, however, it was all about the #8 Toyota, /now over a minute ahead of the competition.

Championship Update

Their 2nd place finish ensures that the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport crew still have a handsome lead at the top of the standings with 117 points. The winners of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse team, are still in 2nd on 98 points, but only 3 points ahead of the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing car. The gap to the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport crew in 4th to the leaders is 46 points. But in such a competitive year, nothing can be taken for granted.

In LMGT3, no surprises at the top as Manthey PureRxcing extend their lead to 25 points. The Manthey EMA team are on 75 points having had a dismal race, hindered by contact early on, while the #31 Team WRT BMW is just one point behind them in 3rd.