The Endurance Brasil finally had got down south this Saturday (22) with the 3 Hours of Tarumã, third round of the 2018 season, and JLM Racing showed the power of the MetalMoro AJR prototype, with a deserved win of the No. 88 car driven by Carlos Kray, David Muffatto and Julio Campos, with Campos delivering a magnificent final stint that decided things on track.
The AJR had already showed their dominance on Friday (20) during the qualify with a new track record with the No. 65 car from NC Racing, clocking an incredible time of 56.610 seconds, followed by other two AJRs and leading no less than seven cars that lapped in less than a minute.
The Saturday had really low temperatures and the usual strong wind at the circuit, though things really got heated on track, with the AJR trio having the mission of breaking the GT3 streak in the championship, with the No. 19 Via Italia TMG Lamborghini being the main threat.
The AJR trio had a smooth start with the No. 65 leading them, when the No. 88 had an electrical issue and slowed down for a moment, recovering pace and coming back to racing. Some time later the first Safety Car period was on due to a nasty crash of the No. 3 GTA Tornado, and despite the front end impact and the massive damage, Cali Crestani was OK and left the car on his own power.
The first hour had the No. 65 dominating the field and leaving the first stop to as late as it could, and the return went well as most of the opponents were losing precious time dealing with the backmarkers and their battles. The No. 65 got extra luck at that moment due to a spin of the No. 56 Motorcar MRX, which brought the second Safety Car intervention.
Once the track was clear for the leaders, the No. 65 had a GT3 pack in the back, and a slight mistake from Nilson Ribeiro opened the door for the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes to take the lead, followed by the No. 19 Via Italia TMG Lamborghini and the No. 70 Stuttgart Porsche. Soon the lead pack reduced to two and the No. 9 was in defensive mode as the No. 19 was all over it, while the No. 70 has the No. 117 JLM AJR at its back wing and ready to overtake for third, though the pursuit ended quickly as Emilio Padron was in the barrier due to a crash, bringing the Safety Car to the track again. The right side and the rear wing were destroyed due to the impact, so it was game over for one of the AJRs.
By the halfway mark we had the No. 19 on top, but what was surprising was the recovery of the No. 88 JLM AJR, sitting then in fourth place and keeping a gap of around 10 seconds to the No. 19, at a time where GT3s and AJRs were clocking effectively the same lap times.
The final stint had the pros taking the seats in the leading cars, and this was the moment Julio Campos took over the good job done by David Muffatto and started the chase to the first spot. Another Safety Car intervention was called due to the No. 37 KTT Scorpion being stopped on track, and with only a few backmarkers separating the leaders from the No. 88, Campos was in a good position to chase and attack them.
The No. 88 was quick to hunt down the GT3s in the final hour, beating the No. 70 Porsche and the No. 19 Lamborghini in the first two corners and going for the No. 9 Mercedes. The gap was close, the pace was superior but the room wasn’t appearing, and when the No. 32 MC Tubarão appeared in front, the Mercedes was boxed and the AJR was in first, and with clear air the No. 88 stretched the gap with ease once the final hour came.
The final minutes should be a time where advantage and pace should be managed, but Campos kept extracting the maximum potential of the No. 88, lapping way ahead of the competition and leaving no margin for threats, bringing back the overall victory to P1 class machinery.
The No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes had no way to recover the overall lead, so settled for the GT3 class win, specially after a problem in the No. 70 Stuttgart Porsche that promoted the No. 19 Via Italia TMG Lamborghini to third overall and second in class. The No. 18 Mottin MCR kept a solid race all the time and finished fifth overall and second in P1, followed by the No. 65 NC Racing AJR.
Even a penalty couldn’t hold the No. 32 MC Tubarão on its way to a P2 class win, and Motorcar Racing made an MRX 1-2 with the No. 43 and No. 56 cars in the P3 class. After falling down the table in the early moments, the consistency of the No. 64 MC Tubarão Audi TCR gave it another GT4 class win, with room to lap the No. 63 Mottin Mercedes twice due to their early issues.
The next Endurance Brasil meeting will be at the Velo Cittá circuit on September 1st, with expectations of new cars to be joining the grid.
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