This years’ 3 Hours of Velopark, fourth round of the 2019 Império Endurance Brasil, didn’t have a troublesome weather as it was in 2018, though most of the entries had a problem or two to deal with during the race, meaning that the one with the cleanest run would win, being in this case the No. 113 Império JLM Racing AJR of David Muffatto and Pedro Queirolo.
Like how it was last year, the rain messed up the schedule so the final part of it was constrained on Saturday, but even with this the JLM Racing AJR fleet dominated the front rows, led by the No. 113 Império JLM entry, though it was the No. 88 JLM AJR that took the early lead, swiftly passing the cars in front from third place.
The incredibly short length of the Velopark exposed the struggles with traffic very early, with the AJRs lapping backmarkers on Lap 2, and this helped the No. 113 Império JLM AJR to recover the lead.
The GT3 class was another highlight of the first hour, though not for the best reasons, with the No. 19 Via Italia Ferrari having a left rear puncture and the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche having damage in the right rear wheel, which secured the class lead of the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes. The P2 class field had its troubles too, with the No. 32 MC Tubarão and the No. 25 Absoluta GeeBee spinning in different points around the same time, which called the first Safety Car intervention of the race, which made the competitors go early to the pits in the first window.
The end of the first hour saw another Safety Car visit as P1 class entries had their troubles, with the No. 20 Ebrahim Ginetta and the No. 88 JLM AJR getting into a halt after failing to brake properly into Turn 1, while the No. 113 Império JLM AJR had a driver through as it overtook under yellow. The whole mess gifted the lead to the No. 5 MC Tubarão AJR, but the car crawled to the pits with a broken gearbox, so the lead returned to the No. 113 Império JLM AJR, which dominated the race in the second hour.
A frightening moment came at the start of the final hour, where a fuel leak in the No. 80 KIA Power Imports AJR triggered a tremendous fire, and although driver Rafael Suzuki left the car immediately and didn’t have any injuries, the rescue work took quite a while to be done, so most of the car was consumed by the fire, which called another yellow flag and Safety Car.
It took more than 10 minutes to complete the whole work and clear the track, with the race returning to green flag as the final stops were done. The No. 113 had quite the comfortable run in the final moments and went straight to the win.
The No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes was leading the GT3 class but Xandy Negrão wasn’t in position to hold Julio Campos in the sister No. 8 Mercedes, which not only won the GT3 class but also finished second overall, while Negrão brought the No. 9 to third overall as the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche and the No. 19 Via Italia Ferrari didn’t appear as immediate threats.
The No. 555 Stillux Ginetta conquered the GT4 class coming home 7th overall, the No. 72 Motorcar MRX outpaced favorite No. 75 SATTI MRX to win the P3 class and bag a top-10 finish.
The No. 63 MC Tubarão Aston Martin came from the back of the grid to a GT3 Light win, and the team celebrated a dominant GT4 Light win with the No. 64 Audi TCR and the P2 class win with the No. 32 MC Tubarão, despite early troubles.
Next race will be in a month time as the 4 Hours of Interlagos will be held on September 7th, the national independence day, with an unusual race under the floodlights as it will start in the late afternoon to continue into the night.
PHOTO - Endurance Brasil
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