Another comeback drive appeared in the way of TMG Via Italia Lamborghini Huracán GT3 during this Endurance Brasil season, as a late hard charge secured the Chevrolet Absoluta 500 win for Marcos Gomes and Chico Longo at the Interlagos circuit. MC Tubarão was another highlight of the race with an impressive triple class win.
The No. 88 JLM AJR secured the lead and also a good gap to the rest of the pack as the positions were still being defined, with the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes passing the No. 37 KTT Scorpion for second overall and the GT3 lead and settling for it.
The earlier moments of racing were marked by a series of problems that knocked out the No. 18 Mottin MCR, the No. 25 Absoluta GeeBee, the No. 73 Spyder and even the No. 37 KTT Scorpion. Some off track trips were seen and involved top tier competitors on it, like the No. 117 JLM AJR and the No. 19 TMG Via Italia Lamborghini. A bit after the end of the first hour, the No. 20 Ebrahim Audi had a race ending contact with the wall, being left with a destroyed left front corner and brought the first yellow flag period.
The second hour saw the No. 88 lose ground to the GT3 crop in the pit stop, with the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes taking the lead and the No. 70 Stuttgart Porsche having the second place overall. SATTI Racing was having their problems with the No. 71 MCR but had the No. 75 MRX in the lead of the P2 class, while the No. 43 Motorcar MRX was leading firmly the P3 class and the No. 64 MC Tubarão Audi TCR was in control of the GT4 class.
Two interventions of the Safety Car marked the second hour. The first was due to an off from the No. 91 MACJOR BMW, while the second was due to the No. 71 SATTI MCR being stopped on track. The No. 37 KTT Scorpion and the No. 3 GTA Tornado were also in their garages with problems and added to the list of cars in trouble.
The four MetalMoro AJRs were having a day of ups and downs with two of them, the Nos. 88 and 26, leading the P1 class while the other two, the Nos. 117 and 65, having their woes. Unfortunately the good moment wasn’t kept going as the front running cars stopped off the track and retired, leaving only the No. 117 in the run, keeping the sixth position at that moment.
Going past halfway the situation in the classes was pretty different from the race start, as MC Tubarão was leading the P1, P2 and GT4 classes with their built-in prototypes and the Audi RS3 LMS TCR, while the No. 56 Motorcar MRX took the P3 lead from the No. 43 MRX. On the top spots, it didn’t take long for the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes to retake the lead from the No. 70 Stuttgart Porsche and were opening the gap little by little, while the No. 19 TMG Via Italia Lamborghini was coming late to the GT3 party and was third overall, almost a lap behind the leader.
With the last hour approaching, the GT3 and P1 classes were on route to have open fights, as the No. 19 TMG Via Italia Lamborghini was closing the gap to the overall and GT3 leaders, while the No. 117 JLM AJR was on pursuit of the No. 5 MC Tubarão IX, which was having electrical failures that hindered its performance. While the No. 19 still had a long way to go, the No. 117 didn’t take long to take the P1 lead as the No. 5 was dealing with its woes in the pitlane, at least until a spin ruin their class lead.
With both the No. 19 and the No. 70 having their best drivers on track, they were catching the No. 9 pretty quickly, and with less than 30 minutes to the end the No. 19 took the lead thanks to an outrageous move by Marcos Gomes into Xandinho Negrão. The No. 9 made a late effort to retake the top but after various laps it lost pace, so the No. 19 just had to keep it going to get the victory.
The No. 9 still had to hold the pressure of the No. 70, but all attempts of an overtake were unsuccessful, so the positions stayed like they were.
The P1 class winner was the No. 5 MC Tubarão IX, a lap ahead of the No. 117 JLM AJR and fourth overall, and MC Tubarão also conquered the P2 class with the No. 32 prototype and the GT4 class with the No. 64 Audi RS3 LMS TCR, both in dominant fashion.
The Endurance Brasil circle goes down south for the rest of the season, with the first stop being Tarumã on July 21st.
PHOTO: Via Italia Racing
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