Cadillac Secures Historic WEC Victory in Brazil
Cadillac made history at the Sao Paulo 6 Hours, securing its first-ever World Endurance Championship (WEC) victory. The US manufacturer’s dominance was highlighted by a 1-2 finish, with drivers Will Stevens, Alex Lynn, and Norman Nato leading the charge. The race at Interlagos saw the Jota-run factory Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh cars dominate, with only Porsche offering a brief challenge in the early stages of the six-hour event.
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Norman Nato took the chequered flag, finishing 57 seconds ahead of the sister car shared by Earl Bamber, Jenson Button, and Sebastien Bourdais. This car, in turn, was 1.8 seconds ahead of the best-performing Porsche 963 LMDh from Penske Motorsport, driven by Julien Andlauer and Michael Christensen.
The winning Cadillac had to overcome an early penalty for a tyre-pressure infringement but ultimately claimed the breakthrough win for a brand that had never finished higher than third since joining the WEC in 2023.
Alex Lynn took the lead during the second round of pit stops, three-quarters of the way through the race. He had taken over the car seven laps before Bamber handed over to Button, who emerged with a 15-second lead thanks to an undercut strategy. Button had four new Michelin tyres compared to Lynn’s two, allowing him to reduce the deficit to under 10 seconds before the leader extended his advantage in the second half of their double stints.
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As the race progressed, the lead grew dramatically after Nato and Bourdais took over their respective Caddys. The third-placed Porsche initially led the early going, with Julien Andlauer taking the lead on the opening lap and stretching his advantage to as much as 4.5 seconds. However, the Cadillac proved superior over a double stint, with Bamber and Stevens closing down on Andlauer as the second round of pit stops approached.
Bamber managed to get ahead with an around-the-outside move into Turn 1 shortly after Stevens had pitted. After the stops were complete, Christensen was over a second behind Button, and the #5 Porsche never looked like a contender for victory again. However, Andlauer, on fresher tyres at the end, was able to close in on Bourdais as the clock counted down.
Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre secured fourth place, a lap down on the winner, in the second of the PPM entries. Estre had qualified in seventh, and the two hours it took to clear the pair of Peugeot 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercars left them out of contention for a podium.
BMW finished fifth after a late charge from Sheldon Van Der Linde in the M Hybrid V8 LMDh he shared with Marco Wittmann. The BMW came back from a penalty for speeding under a Full Course Yellow and made it past the best of the Peugeots driven by Loic Duval and Malthe Jakobsen in the closing stages.
The sixth-place Peugeot was followed home by the sister car of Paul di Resta and Mikkel Jensen. Ferrari salvaged eighth place for the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning entry shared by Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica, and Yifei Ye. The 499P LMH proved uncompetitive around the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace after taking a double hit under the Balance of Performance ahead of the race.
Alpine and the Proton customer Porsche team filled out the remainder of the top 10, with Mick Schumacher, Frederic Makowiecki, and Jules Gounon heading home Nico Pino, Neel Jani, and Nicolas Varrone. They kept the two factory Ferrari 499Ps out of the points-paying positions for manufacturers.
The championship-leading entry of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Antonio Giovinazzi was running 10th in the final hour before Pier Guidi was penalised for a move on Varrone as they battled for position. The Italian crossed the line in 11th place after taking a drive-through, one position ahead of the sister car driven by Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco, and Miguel Molina, which lost time to a rear-end change after a collision with an LMGT3 car.
Toyota failed to get a car home in the points for the first time in the Hypercar era that started in 2021. The GR010 HYBRID LMH, like the Ferrari, wasn’t in the game around a circuit at which it dominated 12 months previously.
Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries, and Kamui Kobayashi crossed the line in 14th, while Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa finished 15th.
Lexus Claims First LMGT3 Class Victory
In a day of firsts, Lexus celebrated its maiden victory in the LMGT3 class. Jose Maria Lopez, Clemens Schmid, and Razvan Umbrarescu led for the majority of the race on the way to a 37-second victory, despite a penalty for pitlane speeding.
Charlie Eastwood moved the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R he shared with Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy up into second with 10 minutes remaining. The Chevy factory driver overtook Michelle Gatting in the Manthey-run Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3-R to seal the runner-up spot.
Gatting, who was partnered with Rahel Frey and Celia Martin, then lost third with less than three minutes left to Eduardo Barrichello in the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3, in which he was teamed with Valentin Hasse-Clot and WEC debutant Anthony McIntosh.
WEC Sao Paulo 6 Hours – Results
| Position | Class | Team | Drivers | Car | Laps | Time | Pits | Retirement |
|———-|———–|——|——————————|—————-|——|——————|——|————|
| 1 | HYPERCAR | 12 | Cadillac V-Series.R | 242 | 6:00’19.732 | 6 | |
| 2 | HYPERCAR | 38 | Cadillac V-Series.R | 242 | +57.016 | 6 | |
| 3 | HYPERCAR | 5 | Porsche 963 | 242 | +58.882 | 5 | |
| 4 | HYPERCAR | 6 | Porsche 963 | 241 | +1 Lap | 5 | |
| 5 | HYPERCAR | 20 | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 241 | +1 Lap | 54.383 | |
| 6 | HYPERCAR | 94 | Peugeot 9X8 | 240 | +2 Laps | 1 | |
| 7 | HYPERCAR | 93 | Peugeot 9X8 | 240 | +2 Laps | 17.771 | |
| 8 | HYPERCAR | 83 | Ferrari 499P | 240 | +2 Laps | 15.617 | |
| 9 | HYPERCAR | 36 | Alpine A424 | 240 | +2 Laps | 0.754 | |
| 10 | HYPERCAR | 99 | Porsche 963 | 240 | +2 Laps | 43.108 | |
| 11 | HYPERCAR | 51 | Ferrari 499P | 239 | +3 Laps | 1 | |
| 12 | HYPERCAR | 50 | Ferrari 499P | 239 | +3 Laps | 15.659 | |
| 13 | HYPERCAR | 009 | Aston Martin Valkyrie | 239 | +3 Laps | 22.284 | |
| 14 | HYPERCAR | 7 | Toyota GR010 – Hybrid | 239 | +3 Laps | 15.656 | |
| 15 | HYPERCAR | 8 | Toyota GR010 – Hybrid | 239 | +3 Laps | 1.541 | |
| 16 | HYPERCAR | 007 | Aston Martin Valkyrie | 238 | +4 Laps | 1 | |
| 17 | HYPERCAR | 15 | BMW M Hybrid V8 | 222 | +20 Laps | 16 | |
| 18 | LMGT3 | 87 | Lexus RC F GT3 | 216 | +26 Laps | 6 | |
| 19 | LMGT3 | 81 | Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R | 216 | +26 Laps | 37.716 | |
| 20 | LMGT3 | 10 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 | 216 | +26 Laps | 4.849 | |
| 21 | LMGT3 | 85 | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 216 | +26 Laps | 1.461 | |
| 22 | LMGT3 | 78 | Lexus RC F GT3 | 216 | +26 Laps | 3.689 | |
| 23 | LMGT3 | 92 | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 215 | +27 Laps | 1 | |
| 24 | LMGT3 | 33 | Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R | 215 | +27 Laps | 6.445 | |
| 25 | LMGT3 | 59 | McLaren 720S GT3 Evo | 215 | +27 Laps | 0.217 | |
| 26 | LMGT3 | 95 | McLaren 720S GT3 Evo | 215 | +27 Laps | 14.133 | |
| 27 | LMGT3 | 46 | BMW M4 GT3 | 215 | +27 Laps | 1.737 | |
| 28 | LMGT3 | 54 | Ferrari 296 GT3 | 215 | +27 Laps | 15.063 | |
| 29 | LMGT3 | 31 | BMW M4 GT3 | 215 | +27 Laps | 16.444 | |
| 30 | LMGT3 | 21 | Ferrari 296 GT3 | 215 | +27 Laps | 14.120 | |
| 31 | LMGT3 | 27 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 | 214 | +28 Laps | 1 | |
| 32 | LMGT3 | 60 | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 214 | +28 Laps | 1’38.944 | |
| 33 | HYPERCAR | 35 | Alpine A424 | 200 | +42 Laps | 14 | |
| dnf | LMGT3 | 61 | Mercedes AMG GT3 | 184 | +58 Laps | 16 | |
| Retirement | LMGT3 | 77 | Ford Mustang GT3 | 169 | +73 Laps | 15 | |
| Retirement | LMGT3 | 88 | Ford Mustang GT3 | 86 | +156 Laps | 83 | |
