Already in the Endurance Brasil radar, a night race became a reality last Saturday (07) when 37 cars raced in the 4 Hours of Interlagos, and the No. 65 NC Racing JLM Racing AJR, driven by Nilson and José Roberto Ribeiro treated the São Paulo circuit as their home, giving not even the smallest chance to the chasing opponents.
Rain became an uninvited guest on Friday, delaying most of the schedule, though the race was held in good conditions and clear weather. Apart from some spins and offs, the race went quite smoothly, though some concern over the circuit illumination, or the lack of it, was raised.
A clumsy start for polesitter No. 65 NC Racing AJR gave the first position to the No. 113 Império JLM AJR, and things stayed like this as the first Safety Car visit came early as the No. 18 Mottin Lamborghini stopped on track with problems.
Basically things remained in the same place during the first hour, mostly because of multiple interventions of the Safety Car, so a long time of green flag effectively started in the early parts of the second hour, already into the dark. In fact, José Roberto Ribeiro didn’t look like he was driving at night, pushing the No. 65 NC Racing AJR even harder, opening a lap to the second place No. 43 JLM AJR, while the GT3 class battle was happening behind them between the No. 19 Via Italia Ferrari and the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche, though a spin near the final hour handed the class lead to the No. 55 again.
What the No. 55 didn’t expect was the No. 8 Scuderia 111 Mercedes sneaking into the lead once the final hour started, though the final hour stops put the No. 55 back to the GT3 lead and the No. 19 on its back wing, though they eventually swapped positions.
The final moments of racing saw the No. 65 being driven to the finish line without any threats as the 1 lap gap to the No. 19 allowed this, and José Roberto Ribeiro did so until the clock reached zero.
Worth a mention is that most of the JLM Racing AJRs finished despite some issues, with three of them finishing in the overall top 10, and the No. 43 car, the former No. 88, clocking the best lap of 1:31.051.
The No. 19 Via Italia Ferrari took advantage of the better pace and took the GT3 class win from the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche, with the Scuderia 111 pair of Mercedes coming behind them. The GT3 Light winner, the No. 155 SulRacing Ferrari, and the P3 winner, the No. 72 Motorcar MRX, finished the race in the top 10.
Just behind them came the GT4 winner, the No. 555 Stillux Ginetta, and also the P2 winner, the No. 32 MC Tubarão, with special attention to Mauro Kern as he was doing double duty with the Gold Classic Interlagos being raced some hours before. Completing the winners list, the GT4 Light had another show from the No. 64 MC Tubarão Audi TCR, and the P4 class was won by the No. 73 Spyder.
The championship will make a return to Goiânia on October 12th, though the race will be 3 hours long this time instead of the 4 hours of the season starter.
PHOTO - Endurance Brasil/Bruno Terena/MS2
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