Been there, done that. After lengthy negotiations to broaden the Império Endurance Brasil technical regulations, the Ligier JS P320 from BTZ Motorsport was driven to a win by Gaetano di Mauro and Guilherme Bottura on its debut race in Brazilian soil, with more reliability prevailing over faster opponents as trouble hit many frontrunners during a hot 4 Hours of Goiânia.
Some of the JLM Racing AJRs and the pair of Sigma P1s received upgrades during the off-season, meaning that the LMP3 spec Ligier JS P320 would be trounced by the national machinery, which is why what arrived in Brazil this week was an unrestricted Track Day version of the French prototype, with significantly more power to at least be able to keep track of the AJRs and Sigmas.
Also in place were some extra new models in the other classes, like the BMW M4 GT3 for Pole Motorsport, a pair of Porsche Cayman GT4s for Stuttgart Motorsport, and a BMW M2 CS Racing for Eurobike MC Tubarão, while other changed machinery for the new season, like Tech Force, which replaced their Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for a Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo and added the Ginetta G58-P2 to the roster, which was previously under the care of the Ebrahim family on their own.
The top of the P1 field started the race with almost nothing separating first to fifth, being led by polesitter No. 1 Motorcar AJR with the No. 12 FTR Sigma behind and the new No. 117 BTZ Ligier at the back. Traffic played with 20 minutes of racing, meaning that the No. 12 could slice its way into the lead, and with GT3s and P2s getting in the way, the Sigma P1 had room to open the gap.
The Sigma was established in first, but the quick rise of the No. 35 JLM AJR gave the lead to Pedro Queirolo, sneaking between the No. 12 and the never ending traffic that was expected. Along with this, the second hour had a totally different picture from the first one, with the No. 35 having some gap to the No. 12 and the rest of the field with more than 40 seconds of deficit. José Roberto Ribeiro was eager to put a fight for the lead, and Pedro Queirolo could only watch the No. 12 go past again for the top spot.
The heat and dry weather were expected to be factors in this race, and in the case of the No. 35 JLM AJR, the engine paid the price, blowing up near the halfway mark and leaving Pedro Queirolo and David Muffato out of contention. The No. 1 Motorcar AJR was the next in the chaser list, but after a long time keeping a reasonable pace compared to the leader, lack of brake fluid made it spend some extra time in the pits.
15 minutes into the final hour and the No. 12 FTR Sigma looked set to just be nursed to the finish, but then a broken left front wheel hub and a damaged radiator took the long time leader out of contention, promoting the No. 117 BTZ Ligier, which had 2 laps ahead of the second placed No. 20 Tech Force Ginetta, which lost ground to the No. 444 Motorcar AJR, which basically settled for second due to the 2 lap deficit and the effects that the hot weather could have in the car, so it was open way for the No. 117 BTZ Ligier to capture the checkered flag.
4 Hours of Goiânia - Race results
The GT3 class winner almost saw the overall podium, but the No. 9 A. Mattheis Mercedes of Marcos Gomes and Xandinho Negrão led a Mercedes day, getting the first place from the second hour after the No. 3 BoatM3 Mercedes dominated the first 60 minutes and a bit more.
In the GT4 class, the No. 22 AutLog Ford Mustang had emergency repairs before Qualifying to eliminate a cracking surface that was considered terminal damage, only to dominate the class and never look back.
The next round will be the 4 Hours of Interlagos on 21 May.
PHOTO: BTZ Motorsport
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