At the start of the second half of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) season, BMW M Team WRT managed to finish with all its cars at the 6 Hours of São Paulo, but could not match the performance shown in previous races. In the Hypercar class, the cars ended the race in ninth and 14th places, while in the LMGT3 category, the #46 BMW M4 GT3 crossed the finish line in fifth place, and the #31 BMW M4 GT3 earned a point in the title race by finishing tenth.
In qualifying, one BMW M Hybrid V8 and one BMW M4 GT3 each made it into Hyperpole. Robin Frijns and Darren Leung secured the tenth and sixth starting positions. However, it quickly became apparent in the race that the pace in both classes was not sufficient to achieve top results. Thanks to error-free performances and good reliability, three of the four crews still managed to collect valuable points. Raffaele Marciello, Dries Vanthoor, and Marco Wittmann finished ninth in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 after starting 14th. Frijns, René Rast, and Sheldon van der Linde finished in 14th place in the sister car. They lost several positions and a lot of time due to a spin that was not their fault.
In the LMGT3 class, Ahmad Al Harthy, Maxime Martin, and Valentino Rossi finished in fifth place after a strong comeback from twelfth on the grid. Augusto Farfus had to settle for tenth place at his home race, celebrated by many enthusiastic Brazilian fans, alongside Leung and Sean Gelael, after receiving a drive-through penalty.
It was a tough race, but we managed to get all four cars to the finish and three of them into the points. That's positive for now, and our crews did an error-free job except for a drive-through penalty for number 31. Thanks to everyone for their effort!
Our drivers and teams did a flawless job this tough weekend for us. I am very dissatisfied with the race in the LMGT3 class. If we only finish fifth with car 46 despite an error-free performance, then something is not right with the speed compared to our competitors. We fought and collected points.
Driver statements.
Raffaele Marciello (BMW M Team WRT, #15 BMW M Hybrid V8, 9th place): “We did an error-free job today and were rewarded with points for it so we can be very satisfied with ourselves. As for the car's pace, we need to continue working hard to improve and catch up to the top.”
Robin Frijns (BMW M Team WRT, #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, 14th place): “It was a difficult race. We just didn't have the pace to attack at the front. We did our job without errors, but unfortunately, we weren't rewarded with points. I was turned around by a Ferrari once which cost us about 15 seconds. That obviously set us back. It is what it is. Now we look forward and try to do better in Austin.”
Valentino Rossi (Team WRT, #46 BMW M4 GT3, 5th place): “After the past races where we had a lot of bad luck, fifth place is an important and good result for us. We realised early in the weekend that we were not fully competitive here, but we fought and improved the car with the race in mind. Ahmad and Maxime did a very good job, and I also managed well in my stints. All in all, we can be satisfied.”
Augusto Farfus (Team WRT, #31 BMW M4 GT3, 10th place): “I have mixed feelings. Unfortunately, the drive-through penalty halfway through the race put us back to where we finished. We couldn't do more. The parity of power between the different cars doesn't seem right to me. That's especially a shame for the fans. From a personal perspective, it was of course fantastic for me to race in front of my countrymen. From a sporting point of view, we are now focusing on COTA.”