The 2023 season of the Império Endurance Brasil started on fire, with the 3 Hours of Velo Citta, with the No. 35 JLM Racing AJR of David Muffato and Pedro Queirolo narrowly beating the No. 117 BTZ Motorsport Ligier JS P320 of Guilherme Bottura and Gaetano di Mauro and its own late problems in the race.
Establishing itself in the lead, the No. 33 BTZ Ligier conquered the first position and had marginally better pace than the rest of the contenders. With the first caution period happening within 10 minutes of racing, Gaetano di Mauro was caught napping and the No. 99 RSports AJR got the lead and kept dominance, mostly because of further yellow flag periods caused by stopped AJRs.
The disadvantages that the No. 117 has in comparison to the AJRs appeared clearly and the No. 35 JLM Racing AJR had no ceremony to pass it for second place, and with further yellow flags and the first pit window giving a help, the No. 35 jumped in the lead while the No. 117 was playing catch up. Further into the second hour the No. 28 JLM Racing AJR took the second place and Gustavo Martins opened the gap to the No. 117, although it couldn’t close down on the No. 35.
The GT3 class was dominated by the No. 15 Pole BMW until the start of the final hour, when the No. 45 AMattheis Mercedes finally crushed the gap and passed for the class lead, and if things couldn’t get worse, the No. 15 was spun by the No. 8 Team RC Mercedes, although it didn’t imply in position change, although the deal breaker came a few minutes later, with a loose wheel stopping the BMW for good.
A spin for the No. 28 JLM Racing AJR offered the possibility for the No. 117 BTZ Ligier to regain the second place, and despite the overheating gearbox, the car was going strong. The GT3 class had its fair share of entertainment with the No. 45 AMattheis Mercedes conceding the lead due to a drive through penalty, which promoted the No. 8 Team RC to the lead.
In the final minutes, an oxygen sensor failure hindered the pace of the No. 35 JLM Racing AJR, which allowed the No. 117 BTZ Ligier to close down massively, but with the tires completely cooked, the relief for David Muffato came with two laps to go, when the No. 35 was brought with care to a close win, with the No. 117 and the No. 28 JLM Racing AJR being within 1.3 seconds off the winner.
3 Hours of Velo Citta - Race results
The No. 8 Team RC Mercedes consolidated the GT3 class win as the No. 27 Team RC Mercedes passed the No. 45 AMattheis Mercedes and held position until the checkered flag, while in the GT4 class tables were turned as the No. 21 Stuttgart Porsche, dominant for most of the race, lost the class win in the final moments to the No. 31 AutLog Mercedes as Jacques Quartiero couldn’t cope with Renan Guerra’s mad charge.
In 6 May, Goiânia will be host of the second round of the 2023 season, with a number of cars confirmed to make a debut or return to the championship.
PHOTO: Endurance Brasil/MS2
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