Motorcar commands 4 Hours of Santa Cruz do Sul

In a cold Saturday that was a total contrast to the first two rounds in Império Endurance Brasil this season, Motorcar Racing celebrated a victory into their domains, with the No. 444 JLM Racing AJR driven by Vicente Orige and Gustavo Kyrila doing a clean sweep at the Autódromo Internacional de Santa Cruz do Sul, where a pole position with authority was complemented by a win after four hours of a truncated race that was filled with yellow flags and Safety Car interventions.

The weather posed more problems than expected, not because of the low temperatures, but because of rain, which forced the organization to move the Qualifying session to Saturday morning while the Friday was dedicated to some practice runs. As if this wasn’t enough, a number of cars were parked even before the race start with either mechanical issues or terminal damage, which was the case of the No. 12 FTR Sigma P1, due to a horrific high speed crash suffered by José Roberto Ribeiro, who had to be taken to the hospital due to the severity of the injuries caused to his leg, which will require further exams, though Ribeiro overall is fine.

With safety concerns in mind and feeling that there wasn’t mileage to know the car and compete, MC Tubarão opted to leave out their Sigma P1-based No. 5 MC Tubarão XI, despite having some Friday runs in the account.

As for the race itself, despite some off track excursions and a suspension problems for the No. 99 RSports AJR, things went as smooth as possible, with the No. 444 Motorcar AJR leading the No. 117 BTZ Ligier while leaving the rest of the field behind before the first Safety Car intervention.

The once third placed No. 28 JLM AJR had to relinquish it to fix some bodywork damage, which left the door open for the charging No. 72 ADS AJR, while in front, the No. 444 saw the table turn and the No. 117 go ahead, but traffic from the other classes offered the opening to counter it back, and things only got worse for the No. 117 as an emergency pitstop was needed due to lack of visibility caused by oil on the windscreen.

A stopped No. 155 SulRacing Ferrari triggered another Safety Car entry, but even with this happening, the No. 444 still had some gap to the immediate threat, the No. 72 ADS AJR, and with another Safety Car entry near the end of the first hour, the leader was within striking distance of the No. 72.

The second hour started with another plot twist, as the No. 117 got back to the lead thanks to the pit stops, the No. 444 tumbled down to sixth and the No. 72 suffered a contact and spun, and with the No. 80 Power Imports AJR also out of the track, the Safety Car was in again.

Due to setup differences, the No. 117 BTZ Ligier had a drop in terms of pace, which allowed the Nos. 1 and 444 AJRs from Motorcar to go first and second before another Safety Car intervention. Behind the Motorcar 1-2, lack of space for both the No. 117 and the No. 35 JLM AJR resulted in contact that sent the Ligier JS P320 LMP3 to the barriers, with extensive front and rear damage to the prototype.

After the halfway mark pitstops, the Motorcar machines inverted positions as Gustavo Kyrila in the No. 444 was clearly faster than Fernando Ohashi in the No. 1, and while the No. 35 JLM AJR was in third on its own, the GT3 class battle was just outside the overall podium, with the No. 16 Blau TMG McLaren exchanging blows with the No. 9 A. Mattheis Mercedes, though a penalty due to minimum pit time infringement would change fortunes between the two cars, but the No. 9 was able to take the lead on track, just before another Safety Car due to debris in the racing line.

Closer to the end of the third hour, the No. 17 Pole Motorsport BMW was coming close to pass and get into the class lead lap, but the traffic that was bringing problems to Átila Abreu was also hindering the No. 9 A. Mattheis Mercedes, and that same traffic took them out of the lead due to contact, opening the way totally for the No. 16 Blau TMG McLaren, while a crash between the No. 02 FTR Sigma and the No. 46 Mottin AJR brought the Safety Car again to open the final hour.

The pitstops and the Safety Car worked well for the No. 35 JLM AJR as David Muffato passed Vitor Genz in the No. 1 for first place, though Muffato had to hold the defensive as he wasn’t able to outpace both Vicente Orige and Vitor Genz, letting the No. 444 go while the No. 1 was barely held behind, with Muffato eventually letting the door open to Genz too.

The GT3s had their share of plot twist too, with the No. 9 recovering the lost gap and getting the first place in class from the No. 16, only for pace alone to flip the table again in favor of the McLaren 720S GT3.

While the No. 444 Motorcar AJR just had to be brought home to see the checkered flag first, the No. 1 car couldn’t hold the team’s 1-2, losing pace to the No. 35 JLM AJR and also the second spot.

4 Hours of Santa Cruz do Sul - Race results

The GT3 win was decided on a tire, more specifically a puncture in the No. 16 Blau TMG McLaren, which handed on a plate the first place for the No. 9 A. Mattheis Mercedes, with the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche completing the class podium in the final moments. The No. FTR MCR had the control of the P2 class from start to finish, while the No. 31 AutLog Mercedes prevailed in the GT4 class.

The next race in the schedule will be the 4 Hours of Velo Citta on 20 August.

PHOTOS: Minamoto Graphics archive