There was only one Toyota left setting the pace as we passed two-thirds of the way through the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, the fifth event of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.
Right at the start of the third hour, another very important twist occurred when the #7 Toyota, during its second pit stop, lost a lot of time replacing a faulty control unit, slipping to the back of the pack and leaving the lead to its twin #8.
Meanwhile, the #99 Porsche was penalised with a Drive Through penalty for contact with the #83 Ferrari at the end of the second hour, but the 499P also suffered the same fate after contact with a BMW at Turn 1.
The same penalty was also given to the #60 Lamborghini and the #82 Corvette for not respecting the blue flags, with the Iron Lynx Huracan also serving a 30″ Stop&Go penalty for a collision with the #55 Ferrari.
5″ added to the pit stop were instead given to the Isotta Fraschini for a technical infringement and to the McLaren #59 for a pit-stop infringement.
The Iron Dames suffered a nasty blow during the fourth pit stop: water began to leak out heavily from the #85 Lamborghini and Michelle Gatting sadly got out, while the pink Huracan was being taken back to the garage.
At the end of the hour, the #82 Corvette driven by Daniel Juncadella stopped when he parked his Z06 near Turn 6 and lost power, causing a Full Course Yellow.
Departure
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Among the HYPERCARs, the #8 Toyota of Ryo Hirakawa continues to dictate the pace, with more than half a minute on the #5 and #6 Porsches, even though the latter is on a different strategy to the others after bringing forward the first stop due to a puncture.
Seven seconds behind the Team Penske 963s is the #51 Ferrari, now driven by James Calado, which has a good lead over the #38 Jota Porsche, which Oliver Rasmussen managed to get ahead of the excellent #93 Peugeot, duelling for a long time with Mikkel Jensen.
Seventh and unable to get close to the 9X8 is the #50 Ferrari, now lapped and with the #12 Porsche of Jota starting to threaten behind it.
The #7 Toyota climbs into the Top 10, passing the #63 Lamborghini of a lively Edoardo Mortara, who at one point had also grabbed fifth place.
The Alpines are in eleventh and fifteenth position, while the Cadillac has lost ground after the third stop and finds itself ahead of the Isotta Fraschini. The race of the Ferrari #83 is also difficult, 13th at the moment.
#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
In the LMGT3 class, the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche took the lead, now ahead of the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.
A little further behind are the #95 and #59 McLarens of United Autosports, with the #87 Lexus of Akkodis-ASP in their slipstream, plus the #46 BMW of Team WRT, which Valentino Rossi has just climbed into for a final double stint.
Seventh was the #81 Corvette of TF Sport, ahead of the #55 Ferrari of AF Corse, which moved up ahead of the #77 Ford Mustang of Proton Competition, while the #777 Aston Martin of D’Station Racing completed the top 10.
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