AUTO Racing conquers 12 Hours of Tarumã

Being the pole position in a 12 hour race barely means a thing after the whole time passed, but the No. 10 AUTO Racing Chevrolet Onix of Guto Rotta, João Cardoso, Bernardo Cardoso and Tuca Antoniazzi was firm in the fight to stay on top at the 12 Hours of Tarumã, having the consistency that barely a few of the 25 cars had from midnight to noon.

The start had Guto Rotta commanding the action in the No. 10 AUTO Racing Onix, but as usual for the current Turismo 1.4 regulations, everybody behind the leader was practically glued to it, and for this first moment, staying in the leading pack would be quite important to work on the pace management later. Rotta was quite established in his place but an eye opener was coming in form of Ike Ramos in the No. 819 Lelecos Corsa, who was rapidly rising to eventually reach the second place.

As time passed, more strong contenders started joining the party, such as the No. 38 Cimini Onix that passed the No. 819 near the end of the second hour, but the packs were still pretty close. After the second hour, the survival part started, taking down some cars as problems started to appear, with one example being the No. 819 Lelecos Corsa’s brake problems that left the car stuck in the garage for a long time during the night.

During the third hour, a new contender appeared as the No. 5 Xtreme Ka exchanged blows with the No. 38 Cinimi Onix for the second place, bringing the No. 6 FAST Onix along in the process, but as time passed and the fourth hour was approaching, the gaps started to stretch and the No. 6 got out contention, leaving the No. 10 leading the No. 38 and the No. 5, and a Safety Car period before the fourth hour pit window flipped the order between the top-3, putting the No. 5 on top for the rest of the night and dawn.

During the morning, a loss of power and an unavailable fifth gear made the No. 5 drop down the order, reinstating the No. 10 on top, while a number of Safety Car periods in the early morning established the No. 10’s lead, with the No. 5 fighting against the circumstances to stay on the podium and the No. 97 FAST Celta dropping down after showing strong pace for a podium finish while the No. 38 fell off as the loss of the fifth gear was followed by other mechanical problems.

With the No. 10 AUTO Racing Onix having 8 laps ahead of the second placed No. 47 Magromelo Onix and of the No. 17 RS Sports Onix, it was just a question of managing equipment to make it to the finish after 465 laps around Tarumã.

12 Hours of Tarumã - Race results

Despite being the winning car and strong pace, the No. 10 had the second fastest lap of the race, as the retired No. 711 MP HB20 had the best lap time by doing 1:20:665 during the night. 15 cars out of the 25 that started made it to the finish line despite all sorts of problems leading to recurrent Safety Car entries.

OWNER’S NOTE:

In the paddock, the rumored talk that was going on is that the 12 Hours of Tarumã will revert back to a multiclass race, but this time without involving the prototypes, as a format similar to the Campeonato Gaúcho de Super Turismo is expected to take place, with small GTs, stock cars and varied touring cars, starting at the next edition in 2023. Given that announcements related to the 12 Hours of Tarumã are made quite late in the year, it will be a question of wait and see if a formal statement will confirm the rumor of if the current Turismo 1.4 will stay in place, as both competitions gained traction recently.