The heat of Goiânia favors strategic masterclass rather than blistering pace, and Foresti Sports proved this in the fourth round of the 2024 Império Endurance Brasil season, delivering the pace at the right time and beating the favorites with their No. 42 Ligier JS P320 that had Lucas Foresti, Victor Foresti and Le Mans Cup driver Axel Gnos at the wheel.
The No. 444 Motorcar AJR led the way when the green flag was waved, and Vicente Orige made no reservations of opening the gap as far as possible at the earliest point, leaving the No. 12 Tech Force Sigma to block the Ligier JS P320s in a quest to hold the second place.
When it was time to hold the pace to make the fuel and tires last, there was no competition near the No. 444 while the No. 12 was still holding the No. 9 AMattheis Ligier, while the No. 117 BTZ Ligier lifted to do the standard procedure of equipment conservation. Eventually, the No. 9 got second place due to backmarker help, and despite not cranking up the speed, Vicente Orige’s pace in the first hour kept the No. 444 in a comfortable lead.
The landscape in the second hour changed drastically as the No. 9 took the lead while the No. 18 FTR Ligier did shorter stints to get in second, but soon it relinquished the position to the No. 444. A strange collision that halted the No. 35 TMG AJR and the No. 117 BTZ Ligier, which alleviated the hit that the No. 9 as Marcos Gomes was forced to pit at halfway point to not exceed the drive time limit, with the AMattheis team doing the full service with the driver change to Xandinho Negrão.
Right after the halfway point, the No. 444 suffers the final blow as the left front puncture basically threw it out of contention for the win, and in between the Motorcar Racing perils, the No. 42 Foresti Sports Ligier charged to second place, only to be bullied out of the position by the No. 12 Tech Force Sigma as Sergio Jimenez also decided to step up the pace, which eventually resulted in the lead change as the No. 9 AMattheis Ligier could do nothing to hold the DRS boosted charge.
With half an hour to go, Lucas Foresti engaged seriously in the fight for the win, throwing all the moves possible to unsettle Xandinho Negrão, which happened with 24 minutes to go. Foresti kept the same guts and chased Jimenez, and in 15 minutes the No. 12 Tech Force Sigma was within striking distance, and with Jimenez dedicated to a fuel mileage run, Foresti was quick to find room to overtake for first place, consolidating the win for the No. 42 Foresti Sports Ligier in the final 13 minutes, with the No. 9 AMattheis Ligier taking second place from the No. 12 with 2 minutes to go, with the third place also gone as the fuel ran out with 10 seconds to go.
3 Hours of Goiânia (R4) - Race results
The GT3 class was initially dominated by the No. 27 Team RC Mercedes, but the No. 55 Stuttgart Porsche got the control in the second half of the race, never letting go of the class win. The No. 21 Stuttgart Porsche had a victorious run from lights to checkered in the GT4 class.
PHOTO: Foresti Sports
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