The date for the 3 Hours of Tarumã, season finale of the 2018 Endurance Brasil, is coming near, and with this, most of the titles still have to be decided, and more than this, the competition is so close that perfectly reflects what was seen on track during the season.
P1 - JLM Racing leads title race as outsiders can spoil the party
The title candidates in the main prototype class race in the MetalMoro AJR, the class of the field during the season, and Fernando Fortes with 490 points leads Carlos Kray with 470 and Emilio Padron with 440, and with the probability of Fortes and Padron sharing a car, the team still has the highest possibility of leaving Tarumã with the title by having at least two trump cards in the hand.
The negative point for them is that the speed of the AJR is sometimes followed by some lack of reliability, which may open the door for the outside contenders, like Claudio Ricci, Fernando Poeta and Humberto Giacomello in the No. 18 Mottin MCR, with their 400 points in fourth, and Tiel Andrade and Julio Martini in the No. 5 MC Tubarão, in fifth with 380 points. The MC Tubarão won two races in the class when the AJRs were plagued by problems, so their chances are boosted if they get a faultless performance, or as closer than this.
All of the title contenders have a DNF race they can discard from in the end of the championship, so this leaves everything almost on equal footing.
P2 - MC Tubarão faces SATTI Racing for the title
The No. 32 MC Tubarão of Mauro Kern and Paulo Sousa isn’t only the P2 leader in the standings with 595 points. The car comes of three class wins, with the latest being last month at the Velopark, and has Tarumã as the home track, so the reigning 12 Hours of Tarumã champions have high hopes of adding a title before preparing the plans for December.
The only threat to their title is versatile and reliable No. 75 SATTI MRX, with Fernando Fortes, Emilio Padron and Henrique Assunção having 525 points. Fortes and Padron know how to handle the aspect of competing in two classes at the same time, but with the point that they are also fighting for the P1 title, Assunção is expected to push the car to glory, with Fernando Ohashi and Marcello Vianna being the needed help.
With both cars being quite reliable and having a DNF each to discard, the mathematics will be added by the track action to decide who will lift the title.
P3 - A race to enjoy for Motorcar with the title already clinched
The only prototype class that has decided its championship is the P3 class, much of it due to lack of full time entries, although the pace and reliability of Gustavo and Rafael Simon in the No. 56 Motorcar MRX paid dividends during the whole season, as four class wins brought the title at the Velopark, with the team doing a good job over the year as the No. 56 was followed by the No. 43 Motorcar MRX most of the the time, though the only time when Gustavo Frey and Gustavo Tomazini were superior came at Tarumã in July.
Three retirements for the No. 43 also gave opportunity for the No. 96 SATTI MCR of Argentine driver Alejandro Cignetti to aim for second in the table at Tarumã depending of what happens on track.
GT3 - Main acts of the championship come in close contention
Three class wins gave the lead of the championship to Chico Longo, but it’s not like the driver of the No. 19 Via Italia/TMG Lamborghini can breathe looking at the standings. He has 650 points against 600 of Ricardo Maurício (No. 70 Stuttgart Porsche), with Maurício having less points to discard ahead of Tarumã.
As a close outsider comes the duo of the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes, and with their absence at the Velopark set to be discarded, it all down to put the effort on track, especially as Xandy and Xandinho Negrão have 545 points, a deficit of 105 points to the leader.
Given the fact that most of the time the No. 19 and the No. 9 were seen in close racing, it would take a good effort for the Mercedes to revert the mathematics, while the No. 70 has the power deficit to the other cars to deal with, specially at a circuit like Tarumã, where a powerful engine tends to speak louder.
GT4 - Another class with everything wrapped up
The other class that goes to Tarumã with finished business is the GT4 class, as Henry Visconde (No. 64 MC Tubarão Audi TCR) has the title in his hands, with his car being the only full time entry in 2018. As Sergio Ribas switched mid-season to the GT3 class, the logic is that Arthur Caleffi, partner of Visconde in the No. 64 for Tarumã, will take the second place in the standings.
The 3 Hours of Tarumã will be held on November 17th, with track activity starting on Friday (16). The race start will be at 3 P.M. local time (5 P.M. GMT), with live streams available on race day on Facebook and YouTube.
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