Mottin Racing, lots of perseverance and another 12H Tarumã win

The traditional 12 Hours of Tarumã endurance race knocked on our doors this Sunday (18) midnight in the south of Brazil, and traditional squad Mottin Racing had some incredible stories to tell along with the first win of the young MCR GrandAm Lamborghini model after what was a relatively punishing race.

The team from Porto Alegre came with three entries for this year’s edition of the 12 Hours, being them the MCR GrandAm Lamborghini, a car which debuted this year in the Endurance Brasil season, along with their traditional MCR prototype and the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3, boosted by a lineup that had big names from the Brazilian motorsport scene like Vitor Genz, Paolo Toso, Fernando Poeta and Pedro Queirolo in the list, but their best starter was the No. 46 MCR, trying to defend its title departing from third as the No. 110 DTR/Overboost MR18 got pole position and the No. 5 MC Tubarão IX got second place.

But this was the least of the problems for Mottin as when the pits were opened with an hour to go for the race, the No. 31 Lamborghini Gallardo was ready for a driver change when fuel leaked into the car and it caught huge flames, even hurting a mechanic. By the quick action of the fire-fighter crew the flames caught especially the rear left corner and the engine cover were controlled and the mechanic suffered minor injuries, with the car going for the race with a partially burnt body and without engine cover.

Once the race was on the No. 5 MC Tubarão took the lead but as the early hour went by, polesitter and second place were simply eliminated of the race as the No. 110 MR18 was out due to accident caused by brake problems, with a crash also bringing an end to the No. 5 MC Tubarão entry.

Mottin Racing was then going for the win with the current champion, looking good for it until the seventh hour of racing in the early morning as an oil leak was the cause of a spin for the No. 46 MCR into Turn 1. The car was brought back to the pits, and along with huge loads of gravel being taken off, the team dealt with problems in the car, losing lots of minutes for repairs, trying to get back to only return to pits with further problems along with penalties. In the tenth hour, all effort put to get the car back wasn’t enough and it eventually retired.

The lead battle just repeated what happened last year when a P2 class entry led a bigger and powerful GP1 car, as the No. 3 Tornado prototype stayed in front of the No. 18 MCR GrandAm, resisting bravely until the eleventh hour, when a CV joint burn forced the Tornado to enter in the pits for repairs, bravely returning to track later on.

As most of the favorites were taken down, the way was opened for the MCR GrandAm to go straight to the finish line and take its debut win in the 12 Hours of Tarumã, thanks to Fernando Poeta, Marcelo Sant’Anna, Henrique Assunção, Fernando Fortes, Anderson Toso and Pedro Queirolo.

12 Hours of Tarumã – Final results

The overall runner-up, the No. 69 MC Tubarão VIII driven by Rodrigo Bacher, Marcelo Vianna, Júlio Martini and Franco Pasquale was the P3 class winner, four laps behind the overall champion.

Completing the podium was exactly the No. 3 Tornado prototype as it didn’t completed the 12 hours of racing but was completed enough laps to classified, as Cali Crestani and Fernando Stédile brought their little machine to P2 class honors.

PHOTOS: Minamoto Graphics