A record break and a win for JLM Racing at Tarumã

The weekend for JLM Racing and for the MetalMoro AJR couldn’t be described in any other way than a dream one as the car driven by Juliano Moro, Emilio Padron and Henrique Assunção smashed the endurance lap record, took pole position and won the 3 Hours of Tarumã, which was also the first race in the Dopamina Endurance Series that the prototype completed. This also concluded the 2017 season for both the Brazilian and the Gaucho championships.

3 Hours of Tarumã - overall results

As it was in the first round of the series earlier this year, the No. 28 JLM Racing AJR gave no chance to anyone when it comes to single fastest laps, topping the time sheets during practice and qualifying, almost always going below the 1 minute mark, though the AJR power was proved when it clocked 57.386 to get pole position, being 0.4 seconds faster than the previous record, also from JLM Racing but with the MetalMoro MRX.

The weather at Tarumã was a mix of dry periods with some persistent light rain that not only was the cause of the high number of Safety Car periods, but also messed up badly with the strategy of the main players in the game, such as the No. 20 Stuttgart Porsche, already crowned champions this year and which dominated the initial moments of the race.

After the first hour the recovery from the No. 28 JLM Racing AJR paid dividends with the lead of the race near the halfway mark but another MetalMoro built machine also appeared in scene as the No. 117 SPMec MR18 appeared as a strong contender, eventually leading the race until the end of the second hour, when the No. 28 retook the lead again and Emilio Padron started opening the gap.

In the final hour the drivers were pushing a bit more, specially with a dry track condition, which also brought more risky moments and eventually led to crashes and spins and brought the Safety Car in various occasions, which settled things and even ended the race 3 minutes earlier than planned with the rain appearing in the final minutes. In between this the No. 26 ProtoV8 still got second place from the No. 117 in a swift move as traffic helped in the switch.

The P2 class was practically settled for the No. 75 SPMec MRX but a puncture followed by a spin with 14 minutes to go handled the class win for the No. 3 Fibralex/GTA Tornado of Cali Crestani, who again brought the car to the finish as the only driver on it during the whole 3 hours. The P3 class had the champions from the No. 69 MC Tubarão winning after a highly contested race where their opposition was wiped out due to crashes, though they still had to hold the No. 43 Motorcar MRX at the line for it. Another class where incidents dictated the result was GT1 as the No. 46 Mottin Lamborghini won with a large margin to a damaged No. 10 Lamborghini, while in GT2 the No. 111 gol won it.