The Império Endurance Brasil season finale at the Velopark delivered drama until the final lap, literally, as the No. 55 Stuttgart Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R won it thanks to a late penalty to the dominant No. 113 JLM Racing AJR, which not only shook the race result but the title battles that were open.
JLM Racing was in control of the front row, and in a brief moment of lack of grip, the leading No. 11 JLM AJR spun and stayed at Turn 3 on Lap 13, which brought the first Safety Car intervention as the No. 113 JLM AJR took over the first position, but once the green came back the No. 5 MC Tubarão AJR took first place from the No. 113.
The rain was somehow expected given the weather in the region, and it just took 30 minutes to get the track soaked, which led to some spins and a crash for the No. 80 Power Imports AJR, leading to another Safety Car. With the green coming back the No. 113 retook the lead during the pitwork to change to rain tires, but the No. 5 was closing in, with Arthur Leist getting the lead again in impressive fashion.
The No. 5 kept the lead but it wasn’t much since the GT3s started to become dominant, with the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche getting first place and the fourth placed No. 9 Mattheis Mercedes having the fastest laps of the frontrunner group.
At the halfway point the rain ceased and the dry lines started to appear at the straights and turn apexes, meaning that a gamble on slick tires was valid, and with the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche deciding to take the risk, the team did the change and the car delivered by not only keeping the lead but also by clocking the fastest laps, but once the track favored slicks for the AJR too, the No. 113 caught up with the leader due to pace and yellow flags.
As the final hour advanced, the difference between the No. 113 and the No. 55 on dry tracks became clearer, to the point that the leader lapped the second placed car and was on the clear way to the win, but during the final lap race control came with the exclusion of the No. 113 JLM AJR due to pit-stop procedure infringement as the car was brought in before the window started, which essentially gave the race win to the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche.
4 Hours of Velopark - Race results
While the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche won overall and in the GT3 class, the No. 175 JLM AJR won the P1 from second overall, while the No. 15 AMG CAC Mercedes won the GT4 class and the No. 63 Tech Force Aston Martin won the GT3 Light class, which makes for four class winners in the overall top-5.
Still in the overall top-10 the race had the No. 0 Stillux Ginetta winning in the GT4 Light class and the No. 75 SATTI MRX commanding the P3 class. Outside of the ten best, the No. 18 Mottin MCR won the P2 class out of a troubled race due to a number of contacts, being a constant target in the race.
With the mess of a finish that happened at the Velopark, Xandinho Negrão, who competed all rounds in the No. 9 Mattheis Mercedes, was the overall champion, while the second place on track gave the P1 class title to Henrique Assunção and Anderson Toso, drivers of the No. 175 JLM AJR.
The P2 class had Rubens Ghisleni, Lucas Kohl and Hardy Kohl claiming the title in the No. 44 Motorcar MRX, even before the start as their main opposition didn’t take part of the finale, and the P3 class had Aldoir Sette in the No. 7 Sette Car MRX with previous class wins helping in the journey against a strong SATTI Racing lineup.
The GT3 Light class had the No. 63 Tech Force Aston Martin dominating all year and even frequenting the overall top-5 at times, which gave the title to Sérgio and Guilherme Ribas. The GT4 class had Leo Sanchez and Átila Abreu getting the title from the No. 15 AMG CAC Mercedes, while the GT4 Light class had Tuca Antoniazzi getting the silverware in the No. 54 Mottin Mercedes CLA while beating the fleet of Ginetta G55 GT4s.
At the moment the 2021 season only has the dates announced, but the championship is expected to start on 3 April and will be followed by another seven rounds.
PHOTO: Stuttgart Porsche
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