In terms of outright drama, the season finales of Império Endurance Brasil tend to deliver quite a lot, and NC Racing went through a lot of things in 2018, when they lost a win at Tarumã in the final minutes, and in 2019 at the 6 Hours of Curitiba, where a problematic run of the No. 65 JLM Racing AJR somehow gave the eighth place on track to Nilson and José Roberto Ribeiro, and also crowned them the 2019 champions.
As it was the case in previous races, the JLM Racing AJR ruled the top of the grid and started dominating the top spots, with the No. 11 JLM AJR initially keeping the lead but conceding it at the end of the first lap to the No. 113 JLM AJR. Coming back after a fire at the Velopark, the No. 80 KIA Power Imports AJR started in strong form, putting pressure in the No. 6 MC Tubarão AJR and eventually passing it for fourth place.
Still during the initial moments, the problematic run of the No. 20 Ebrahim Ginetta came to an end as the car stopped trackside with oil pressure issues, with the No. 64 MC Tubarão BMW also coming to a standstill.
During the first yellow flag some top contenders saw things go incredibly bad, as the No. 113 JLM AJR went to the pits for checks and the No. 65 NC Racing AJR went off track and had some damage, which opened the way for the No. 11 JLM AJR to recover the lead. If this wasn’t bad enough for the No. 65, a rear right puncture and further suspension damage locked the car in the garage for almost 15 minutes, losing 9 laps to the leader.
During certain moments of a break in the order the No. 11 JLM AJR and the No. 5 MC Tubarão AJR conquered the top spot, but the No. 113 JLM AJR reached them on pure pace and retook command, though the progress was ruined again due to a rear left puncture with an hour and a half of racing. The No. 5 had a period of dominance but succumbed to the pace of the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes, with the GT3s taking their places in the top five.
The Mercedes 1-2 was secured during almost an hour, but their pace was far from being on par with the JLM Racing AJRs, so it was question of time for the No. 175 JLM AJR to conquer the first spot with two hours and a half of racing.
After the halfway point, the rain started closing into the Curitiba circuit and then fell strong, sending many cars to spinning moments, but somehow those with slicks benefited, as the rain stopped and the track was drying, and with the No. 113 having to be driven gently, the GTs took control and the No. 8 Scuderia 111 Mercedes regained the top spot, with the sister No. 9 coming behind.
In the early minutes of the fourth hour of racing the rain had a brief return, and drama appeared inform of a crash at the home straight that wrote off the No. 113 JLM AJR from the title challenge, leaving only the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes and the No. 65 NC Racing AJR in the chase. The damp condition of the track was favoring the heavier GT cars, so the lead was between the No. 8 Scuderia 111 Mercedes and the No. 19 Via Italia Ferrari, and despite the long time of defensive effort from Julio Campos, the No. 19 overtook as Daniel Serra found room to outpace him.
At that point the P1s were so far below the table that GT3 Light cars and even the No. 12 NAFTA Sigma, P2 class leader, were in the top-10, and even when the track became completely dry again the situation changed as they entered the final hour.
By discounting the lap difference after the big time stopped in the garage, the No. 65 NC Racing AJR conquered the overall 9th place needed to secure the title and a bit more, which would force the No. 9 Scuderia 111 Mercedes to ramp up the pace, but the No. 19 Via Italia Ferrari and the No. 8 Scuderia 111 Mercedes were untouchable in front. Curiously the entry into the top-10 also meant acquiring the first position in the P1 class for the No. 65, and despite having a secure position in the championship calculator, José Roberto Ribeiro wasn’t slowing down and was aiming for more.
With the No. 19 Via Italia Ferrari having no threats around, even a late yellow flag couldn’t take away their win, but it was way behind where the celebrations were louder, as the No. 65 NC Racing AJR completed the race as the eighth placed overall and the P1 class winner, having conquered the overall and P1 class titles.
The No. 63 MC Tubarão Aston Martin took GT3 Light honors with a fifth place overall, securing the class title, while the No. 12 NAFTA Sigma got the P2 class win and the seventh place. Just behind the overall champions in ninth overall, the No. 72 Motorcar MRX got the P3 class win and the class title, while the best GT4 was the No. 555 Stillux Ginetta, already outside the top-10.
Scuderia 111 still had something to celebrate despite losing the overall title, as Xandy and Xandinho Negrão lifted the GT3 class title. Curiously, NC Racing’s triumph breaks a two-year sequence of GT3 teams conquering the overall title, leaving only the Mercedes team in the waiting.
PHOTO - MS2/Bruno Terena
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