Stevens Keeps JOTA Cadillac Ahead After First Hour

Will Stevens maintained Cadillac’s lead of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo after starting the FIA World Endurance Championship contest from pole but the sister Hertz Team JOTA machine has dropped to third.

The pair of Cadillac V-Series.Rs maintained their 1-2 at the start despite an aggressive launch from Kevin Magnussen in the No. 15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 that guided the Dane around the outside of the No. 36 Alpine A424 of Fred Makowiecki, which had started third, and almost into second.

The Cadillacs had then looked relatively comfortable out front on the damp but drying track over the first few laps but, as soon as they began encountering the LMGT3 traffic, Magnussen suddenly closed on Earl Bamber in the No. 38 Cadillac.

Magnussen saw an opportunity on lap 11 when he charged up the inside of Bamber at Ferradura, banging wheels as the BMW forced its way ahead.

Stevens enjoyed a lead of around five seconds at this stage in the pole-sitting No. 12 Cadillac but Magnussen then set about whittling that down as they continued to navigate the constant traffic.

Stevens’ lead increased back to 4.359 seconds at the end of the first hour with Magnussen having been unable to truly escape from Bamber.

Makowiecki, in turn, was not far behind in fourth while Miguel Molina ran fifth in the pick of the AF Corse Ferrari 499Ps.

The No. 50 machine had jumped the second Alpine of Ferdinand Habsburg at the start, with the A424 having a tricky first lap to drop outside of the top-ten before then opting for an early first pit stop to be the only Hypercar to pit before the first hour was completed.

Sixth was the No. 83 satellite AF Corse Ferrari of Yifei Ye, but this was due to serve a five-second penalty for a start infringement at its first stop, while the third Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi had climbed to seventh.

The pair of Peugeot 9X8s ran eighth and ninth despite both Loic Duval and Paul di Resta complaining of struggling with the balance of their cars, while the brace of Genesis GMR-001s were next up.

The pair of Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVOs led the way in the LMGT3 ranks with Stefano Gattuso in the No. 88 car heading the No. 77 machine of Eric Powell.

It was a disastrous start for polesitter Gray Newell in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo as he plummeted down the order on the opening lap and was reprimanded for being out of position.

While Newell was slow, Johannes Zelger in the No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was too eager and pulled into a big lead before being awarded a drive-through penalty.

Even before the penalty, Zelger’s lead proved brief as Petru Umbrarescu moved the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 ahead on the inside of Turn 4.

But it was not long before Umbrarescu had his mirrors filled with the pair of Mustangs.

The Fords piled on the pressure for around five laps before Gattuso finally found a way through on the inside of the first corner with Powell in the sister car demoting the Lexus another place further around the lap.

The Lexus had dropped behind Salih Yoluc in the No. 34 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R before Umbrarescu became the first of the frontrunners to pit.

This meant the No. 69 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Anthony McIntosh and the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Yasser Shahin rounded out the top-five as the clock ticked to one hour being completed.