JLM Racing celebrates 4 Hours of Curitiba win

In what may be remembered as one of the toughest races of the season, Pedro Queirolo and David Muffato kept the wins coming for the JLM Racing AJR in Império Endurance Brasil, being one of the few which kept it clean and winning the 4 Hours of Curitiba with the No. 113 car.

The No. 113 JLM AJR kept the lead but the No. 65 NC Racing AJR, returning to the competition after missing the Interlagos opener, was proving why the team was crowned champion at this same track last year by putting extreme pressure in the leader until the yellow came out as the No. 43 Motorcar AJR stopped on track with engine issues and the No. 175 JLM AJR came to a halt with gearbox problems. Also with its troubles was the No. 5 MC Tubarão AJR, which made the Safety Car period even longer.

Near the first pit window the No. 65 suffered a left front puncture, giving back the lead to the No. 113 JLM AJR, without threats as the No. 20 Ebrahim Ginetta was suffering pressure from the No. 9 Mattheis Mercedes and the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche.

With most of the competition being left behind, it was clear way for the No. 113 even before the halfway mark as they were one of the most consistent machines on track, along the second placed No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche and the third placed No. 9 Mattheis Mercedes, while the recovering No. 65 NC Racing AJR was in a solid fourth place. At this point things were so shuffled that the leaders from the classes GT3 Light, P2 and GT4 were in the overall top-10.

The GT3 class had quite the drama as the No. 55 spun from the leading point after contact with the No. 69 Stillux Ginetta GT4, though even with the No. 9 Mattheis Mercedes having conquered the lead again, they lost it after the pits, and they also had to consider two possible post-race penalties due to overtaking in pitlane and overtaking under yellow flag.

The advantage of the No. 113 extended for fourth and the fifth hours, especially as the GT3 contenders had to deal with their own matters for the class win, so the second place overall was like a bonus. The track actually was so punishing to the main contenders that leaders from other classes were in the overall top-10, with the highlight being the No. 63 Tech Force Aston Martin in fourth while topping the GT3 Light class without issues.

The No. 55 Porsche had a comfortable gap to the No. 9 Mercedes, but Xandinho Negrão was making sure they wouldn’t lose without fighting, crushing lap times as the final hour went on and reducing the gap to Marcel Visconde by large portions.

The gap was almost nullified by a late yellow flag but Visconde in the No. 55 tried to use the traffic for a final resistance against Zonta in the No. 9, which failed as Zonta sliced through the field, and when the No. 9 was ready to pounce while dealing with a backmarker ahead, the No. 55 lost rear traction to avoid the traffic and slammed the wall at straight line speed, and the No. 9 almost suffered the same fate as it slid in the same way.

With nothing more to fight over in the race, the No. 113 JLM AJR was crowned victorious with a dominant margin over the No. 9 Mattheis Mercedes, who reigned in the GT3 class, and the No. 63 Tech Force Aston Martin not only won the GT3 Light class but also scored an overall podium.

4 Hours of Curitiba - Final results

The No. 15 AMG CAC Mercedes won the GT4 class at the line, also conquering the sixth place overall, and the No. 72 Motorcar MRX suffered the least amount of trouble and won the P3 class, being placed ninth overall, making it five class winners in the overall top-10. The No. 44 Motorcar MRX won the P2 class and the No. 54 SulRacing Mercedes won the GT4 Light class.

Along the domination of the No. 113, another highlight at the finish line is that the 2 GT3 Light class cars came home in the top-5, as not even an electronic problem stopped the No. 155 SulRacing Ferrari.

The next race is already decided, as the Velopark will host it on 10^th October, which is the earliest a race date was announced this season.

PHOTO: Endurance Brasil/MS2/Bruno Terena