It is nothing less than the world championship, and Porsche has once again taken an important step towards winning the title in the endurance world championship. At the 6-hour race in Sao Paulo, the first WEC race after the disappointing 24 Hours of Le Mans from Porsche’s perspective, the Zuffenhausen-based company landed another double podium. This was preceded by a triple victory in Qatar, a double podium in Imola and a double victory in Spa-Francorchamps.
Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor drove the #6 Penske Porsche 963 to second place in Interlagos, with the #5 sister car with Fred Makowiecki/Matt Campbell/Michael Christensen coming in third. There was no way to beat the dominant #8 Toyota, which crossed the finish line more than a minute ahead after 236 laps, and the double podium success meant the absolute maximum in Interlagos.
Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor on the Sao Paulo podium after early setback
It was not apparent in the early stages of the race that Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor would storm up to second place. The #6 had to make an unplanned pit stop on lap 27 due to a puncture following a collision between Vanthoor and fellow brand driver Will Stevens (#12 Jota-Porsche). This threw the trio out of the usual pit stop sequence, which in Sao Paulo consisted of around 42 laps per stint.
Nevertheless, Vanthoor’s teammates, Lotterer and final driver Estre managed to finish the race with only five pit stops – the same number as the third-placed sister Porsche and the winning Toyota.
A clever fuel-saving strategy and pit stops at the right time ultimately led to success, as three-time Le Mans winner Lotterer explained: “It didn’t start well with the collision. But we didn’t give up and fought our way back to the right tires. Then came a Full Course Yellow, which put everything back in order. Our timing at the pit stop was perfect.”
Toyota is ruthlessly implementing its medium strategy in Brazil
While Toyota’s competitors consistently used medium tire compounds from Michelin and thus found the perfect tactic for themselves on the hot asphalt, Porsche used a split strategy right from the start: the #5 Porsche, which started from third place, started the race on medium compounds, while the #6 from P6 was sent out with hard compounds.
Only Toyota was able to drive entirely with mediums on the aggressive asphalt of Sao Paulo and also to complete the double stint on this mixture, which was necessary due to the limited tire quota (18 tires for qualifying and the race). Porsche was also satisfied. “In the changed conditions, the focus was on the tire strategy today,” explained Porsche’s LMDh factory manager Urs Kuratle. “Our factory team played to its strengths in terms of strategy and did everything right.”
Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor finished ahead of the sister Porsche
There was a reason why Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor were somewhat surprisingly ahead of Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki at the finish despite the early, mandatory pit stop: Before his fourth and penultimate pit stop, Michael Christensen received an announcement from race control that part of the rear wing had to be replaced. This was preceded by contact with a GT3 car on the right rear section, which was not shown in the broadcast.
The #5 pit crew replaced the entire rear wing during the tire change, which took a total of 1:34 minutes – around 14 seconds longer than the #6 pit stop. At the end of the race, the two Porsches were separated by 7.1 seconds.
The better placing of the #6 963 should not have come at a bad time for Porsche: Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor are travelling from Sao Paulo as the world championship leaders to the next race in Austin (September 1st). The trio was able to increase their lead in the drivers’ table by 10 points because their closest rivals – the Le Mans winners Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari – could not get beyond sixth place.
Porsche leads all WEC rankings
Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor lead the overall standings after five of the eight races of the season with 117 points, the #50 Ferrari crew has 98 points. Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries from the #7 Toyota (fourth place in Sao Paulo after technical problems) can also count on a chance of winning the title with 95 World Championship points. Teammate Mike Conway missed Le Mans due to injury, which is why he lacks the 36 points needed for second place.
Porsche also leads the manufacturers’ rankings, with the German factory team leading with 126 points, ahead of Toyota (122) and Ferrari (109). Ferrari lost second place to the Japanese after a difficult weekend in Brazil. In the WEC World Cup for customer teams, which has four cars, a Porsche, Jota’s #12, is also in the lead. On top of that, Manthey-Porsche is dominating the action in the LMGT3 class. “A mega result for us,” said Porsche Motorsport Director Thomas Laudenbach. “We couldn’t get to Toyota today. So we are extremely happy with the result.”