Ilott Leads Porsche 1-2-3 in Sao Paulo FP3

Photo: Javier Jimenez/DPPI

Callum Ilott led a Porsche sweep of the top three positions in the final Free Practice prior to qualifying and Hyperpole for Sunday’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo.

Ilott, in the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963, laid down a flying lap of 1:24.297 early in the 60-minute session to outpace the pair of factory Porsche Penske Motorsport entries.

Matt Campbell was second quickest in the No. 5 Porsche, with a best time of 1:24.309, followed by FIA World Endurance Championship points leader Kevin Estre in third in the No. 6 entry.

Charles Milesi put the No. 35 Alpine A424 an impressive fourth on the time sheets, with the No. 15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor completing the top-five overall and in the Hypercar class.

The No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 was sixth quickest, thanks to Daniil Kvyat’s 1:24.723 lap that, like the majority of the best times, were set in the opening stages of the session.

Jenson Button was seventh in the No. 38 JOTA Porsche, ahead of the leading Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco and the Robert Shwartzman-driven No. 83 AF Corse entry and the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8, which completed the top-ten.

Of note, the pair of Toyota GR010 Hybrids, which led the day on Friday, were only 13th and 14th, ahead of the lone Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R in 15th.

The session, which started in full dry conditions, later saw periods of light rain, although it did not result in any teams to switch to wet weather tires, but dashed hopes of any significant lap time improvements.

LMGT3 was led by the No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alex Malykhin, thanks to a 1:35.488 lap time by the UK-licensed Bronze-rated driver.

Nico Pino was second quickest in class in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, followed by Sarah Bovy in the No. 85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The session saw no major incidents, with contact between the No. 36 Alpine of Matthieu Vaxiviere and the No. 11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C of Karl Wattana Bennett resulting in the Bennett getting turned around and Vaxiviere getting a warning.

Qualifying gets underway at 2:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EDT) followed by Hyperpole to lock in the top-end of the grids in both classes.

RESULTS: Free Practice 3

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John