Goiânia apparently does wonders to BTZ Motorsport in Império Endurance Brasil, with the No. 117 Ligier JS P320 LMP3 of Gaetano di Mauro and Guilherme Bottura repeating the feat done in its debut race and winning the fifth round of the 2022 season.
The No. 444 Motorcar AJR kept its leading position at the start despite the aggressive attempts of the No. 99 RSports AJR to swap places. The first moments were especially important to settle at the highest position possible, as the heat of the region wouldn’t let anyone push too hard for a long time, and Gaetano di Mauro knew how important it was to be well placed as he forced his way by the No. 11 JLM AJR, putting the No. 117 BTZ Ligier in third place and with pace enough to take on the top two.
Di Mauro had so much grunt that disrupted the current lead fight and passed both the No. 99 and the No. 444 at once, even without using the ideal line for the moves but having the help of traffic in front. The top of the field stood in status quo for the remainder of the first hour, with a GT4 class contact neutralizing the field for a few minutes.
A grateful surprise from the second hour was the No. 17 Pole BMW comfortably leading the GT3 class after climbing its way to the top in the first hour, with Átila Abreu demonstrating the true performance of one of the newest machines in Endurance Brasil, while the No. 16 Blau TMG McLaren was trying to catch up with the leading machine after getting out of the presence of the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche.
The halfway mark saw the heat increasing and placing a further burden on the fuel consumption, with pretty much every car on the field fighting to make it through the hour, having an early push followed by a long cooldown period and then a late push once the calculations allowed it. The difference in pace between Pedro Queiorolo and Guilherme Bottura allowed the No. 35 JLM AJR to take the lead while the No. 444 dropped during the previous Safety Car period, and another Safety Car due to the blown engine and fire in the No. 550 JDavid Mercedes put the fuel calculations in place.
With the final pit window coming soon, Bottura put the No. 117 to work to reduce the gap to the No. 35, and while traffic and a proper final service were helping the No. 35, a Safety Car call due to the stopped No. 46 Mottin AJR was another element that would protect it from the No. 117. The lead was kept with a good gap until the fatal blow was dealt to the No. 35, and engine blow with 35 minutes to go that would gift the lead back to the No. 117, which had Gaetano di Mauro back for the final push.
The rest of the race was simply too favorable for the No. 117 BTZ Ligier, with the gap being comfortable to the No. 99 RSports AJR while the previous Safety Car periods and the other one with two minutes to go conserved fuel and tires, with Gaetano di Mauro only having to bring it to the finish line.
4 Hours of Goiânia II - Race results
The dominant position that the No. 17 Pole BMW assumed on the second hour was never threatened by the No. 16 Blau TMG McLaren, meaning that the BMW M4 GT3 got the first win in the competition after five rounds, and also broke the Mercedes domination in the GT3 class that the No. 9 A. Mattheis Mercedes and the No. 27 Team RC Mercedes were sustaining from the start of the season.
The No. 31 AutLog Mercedes took the GT4 class win, carrying the team after the retirement of the No. 222 McLaren to deny the chance of the win from the pair Stuttgart Motorsport Porsches. The No. 18 FTR MCR dominated the P2 class as per usual, mostly due to the unfortunate reliability issues of the competition in the class.
Next race in the season is the return to Santa Cruz do Sul, with the first four hours of racing with the proposed renovations announced during Round 3 set for 5 November.
PHOTO: MS2/Bruno Terena
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