After a long history of a hugely democratic multi-class races, the 12 Hours of Tarumã, one of the most important events of the southern Brazil, will shift into a race restricted to touring cars, with the national Marcas e Pilotos spec being the choice from the 2019 edition onwards.
The change in the grid came as a solution for the diminutive grids that the event was having in recent years, in special the 2018, that couldn't reach 20 cars despite the multitude of specs that could be used for the race. Also, with most of the Brazilian sportscar calendar extending to December, which includes the Endurance Brasil finale near Christmas, gathering more cars to Tarumã would be a monumental task.
The Marcas e Pilotos is a spec that has a good number of state and regional championships in Brazil, centered around touring cars based on small hatches and sedans found in the Brazilian road going market, though they are all powered by a 1.4 liter Flexpower engine by Chevrolet. Most of the national championships using the Marcas e Pilotos formula have sprint formats, but some endurance races are also seen. Also, the spec was present in the 12 Hours format that was used until 2018.
The idea was to limit the grid to 50 cars in order to accommodate them and the teams in a proper way during the race weekend, but it’s stated that the number of entries registered already went past 40 cars, which made the race organization change the grid limit to 65 cars.
Some names already related to Endurance Brasil and the 12 Hours of Tarumã are in the entry list, like Ian Jepsen Ely, who will share a Chevrolet Celta with Marcas e Pilotos RS driver Bruno Ceccagno. Ian appeared at the 4 Hours of Curitiba in the No. 21 Mercedes CLA with Arthur Caleffi, getting the GT4 Light class win in the process. Endurance Brasil commentator Luc Monteiro is jumping from the booth to the track, as he is set to drive the Scuderia FAST Racing Chevrolet Celta No. 66, awaiting for confirmation of his team mates.
The date was another cause of concern, but the 12 Hours of Tarumã is set for the midnight of December 15th.
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