December was the month to settle the 2023 Império Endurance Brasil season, and the final four hours of racing at the Velo Citta were a test of survival that saw the No. 117 BTZ Ligier JS P320 depart from the pits due to a fuel leak to come out on top, securing the season title in the process for Gaetano di Mauro.
When the lights were out, the No. 444 Motorcar Sigma held the first position but Sarim Carlesso wasn’t having reservations to outbrake Luiz Bonatti, putting the No. 28 JLM AJR, and since the No. 28 attracted the close pack along with it, the No. 444 got so out of the line that it dropped to eighth while the No. 31 AutLog Mercedes stopped on track and brought in the Safety Car.
The No. 02 Tech Force Sigma then pushed hard and Sergio Jimenez got the lead from third, and behind them, the No. 9 A. Mattheis Ligier was carefully settling for a pace, but in the only moment that Xandinho Negrão decided to engage in battle, the Ligier was turned around by the No. 35 JLM AJR and crashed in the barriers at Turn 1. The No. 9 got back to the pits despite the dismal state it was, but it was obvious that the A. Mattheis Racing crew had to lose a lot of time to at least work on aero fixes.
An oil leak demolished the chances of the No. 80 Power imports AJR that had renewed aero, and this brought the Safety Car again. The bodywork issue in the No. 35 from the earlier crash came back to haunt Pedro Queirolo, with the broken fender rubbing in the right front tire and forcing the car to stop for checks. To end the first hour, the No. 05 Eurobike Audi lost the brakes and crashed heavily after the esses, calling the Safety Car one more time.
The GT3 class would have had a decent fight for the lead as the No. 15 Pole BMW got into pace to challenge the No. 27 Team RC Mercedes after some incidents from Leo Sanchez, but ultimately his BMW M4 GT3 took a wide route, lost the rear and ended in the barrier with lots of damage, calling the Safety Car.
In between incidents and penalties, the No. 99 BOX99 AJR appeared in the lead with an hour and a half of racing, but the No. 28 JLM AJR took advantage of the overheating issue of the No. 99 and jumped to first, but once the pit stop cycle was concluded the No. 99 was back to the top.
It was smooth sailing for the No. 27 to stay in the GT3 class lead, but the No. 16 Blau McLaren was clearly faster, making Cacá Bueno work his way to keep the traffic between his car and the McLaren 720S GT3. In the faster class, the final hour dealt the final blow in the mechanics of the No. 99 BOX99 AJR, as it stopped at the main straight and opened the door for the No. 117 BTZ Ligier to finally take the lead until its final stop.
The No. 46 Mottin AJR led for most of the final hour, but since it had a mandatory stop to do, it relinquished the lead with 25 minutes to go, leaving the No. 117 BTZ Ligier go to first but defending hard from the No. 02 Tech Force Sigma until the last moment, securing victory by 0.138 seconds.
4 Hours of Velo Citta - Race results
The No. 16 Blau McLaren was able to get the GT3 class by finally passing the No. 27 Team RC Mercedes in the final moments too while the No. 22 AutLog Ford had a more comfortable finish despite not being the GT4 class leader for the whole time, winning by 34 seconds over the No. 21 Stuttgart Porsche.
Di Mauro ended the overall season with 880 points against 855 from Marcos Gomes and Xandinho Negrão, the same points that settled the score in the P1 class. The order stood unchanged in the GT3 class, with Marçal Müller, Ricardo Maurício and Marcel Visconde triumphing over Cacá Bueno and Ricardo Baptista, while the GT4 class crowned Danilo Dirani as champion.
PHOTO: BTZ Motorsport
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