Dries Vanthoor pushed through illness to secure his first Hypercar victory, keeping BMW in the WEC title fight with Ferrari and Toyota. Vanthoor took over his final stint of the 6 Hours of São Paulo feeling unwell, while the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 was at its absolute peak, the German driver held on to bring the BMW their second Hypercar win of the season and the No. 15 garage its first, Sunday evening at Interlagos.
This is the first WEC overall win for the No. 15 BMW team, and its drivers Vanthoor, Kevin Magnussen, and Raffaele Marciello. "I’m not really feeling amazing, to be honest with you," Vanthoor radioed. "I don’t feel the best." "We know you're struggling, but you're the quickest car on track," the garage responded.
View Price on AmazonVanthoor was able to battle through and stay up front on the primary strategy through his entire final stint. The team started in third, and Kevin Magnussen jumped to second in the first hour, splitting the Hertz Team JOTA Cadillacs 18 minutes in when the Hypercar class first hit LMGT3 traffic. This is the first time a team has won at Interlagos in the 6 Hours of São Paulo from outside the front row.
Vanthoor finished 2.2 seconds ahead of James Calado in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P, which faced a fair share of misfortunes in its march towards a podium finish. In the fourth hour after starting his stint, Calado hit the barrier, picking up a large piece of it that became glued by aero to his bumper as he continued around the track. "Okay, James, please try to weave," The Ferrari Garage radioed. "Try to weave in the straight line. We have a panel stuck on the bodywork; please weave.
In the end, the No. 51 team pushed it the furthest on energy to hold on to second, with a light tank, Calado was asked to fuel save on his final lap and exit lap, while picking up debris to make sure the car made weight post-race and could provide a fuel sample. The pole-winning No. 12 Cadillac of Jack Aiken, Earl Bamber and Sebastien Bourdais finished third after several missteps and misfortunes during the first half of the race, including a stuck wheel nut, a time penalty, and contact and a spin with the No. 83 Af Course Ferrari entry.
Source: roadandtrack.com
