Unfortunately, almost all of the “big” racetracks in Brazil are going away 😥. Here in my hometown, the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba (International Racetrack of Curitiba), closed shop two years ago. Not a huge track, yet we even had a FIA endurance race there in the late 1990s. Heck, even the famous Jacarepaguá circuit, in Rio de Janeiro, is also no more. Basically, the only big-league track that remains is the Interlagos racetrack (Autódromo José Carlos Pace), in São Paulo. That being so, big-ticket racing has become really scarce down here. Yeah, we still have F1 every year at Interlagos, but come on… A race where you know who will win in advance in 90% of the cases based on starting positions? The term boring automatically comes to mind. OK, I am biased against F1, however that’s because a parade is not a race IMHO.
With all that, it looks like cool and proper racing will go extinct here. And that includes prototype/endurance/GT racing. However (if I recall correctly), in June last year we got GREAT news: the WEC would be back to Brazil. And better yet, it would be at Interlagos. With that, I could watch a WEC race just 45 minutes away by plane. As soon as tickets went on sale, in October, I bought two tickets, for me and my 17 year-old son. I was going to see Le Mans cars live 😎! The race would be on July 14th, and I bought the three-day package deal. I was going to watch the tests sessions on Friday (and do a pit walk!), qualifying runs on Saturday and the race proper on Sunday. In the following months I booked the flight and hotel, and on July 11th we were off to the airport.
The Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo was the next race in the WEC calendar, right after the 2024 Le Mans race. If I’m not mistaken, all the cars came directly from La Sarthe. In fact, some arrived at Interlagos still showing battle-damage from Le Mans! Early Friday morning we arrived at Interlagos and things started a bit slow. Since we got in early, we sat right in front of the pit lane. The cars had a free practice at around 10am, and then things really became cool. The sound of them roaring out of the pit and then coming full tilt down the main straight? Just awesome.
Honestly, something almost spiritual for me – I got goosebumps! However, free practice was cut short by a Lexus RC F GT3, that hit a wall. With the track needing repairs, the race director suspended the morning’s session.
After lunch, with the track barriers repaired, the afternoon practice session began. And since the previous was cut short, the afternoon session was longer. Interlagos is famous for being rough on tires, so during practice cars were always changing tires.
With free practice over, all cars were back in their garages. It sure was thrilling to see, however, the high point for me was the pit walk at the end of the day. Not the best time of the day, since sunset was around 5h30pm. Therefore, light conditions were far from ideal while using a cell phone camera.
For two whole hours I walked down the pit lane, drooling and ogling over the cars I only new from images and 1:43. A bit silly, I know, yet it was totally flabbergasting to touch an hypercar! And since it was the end of the practice day, I got to see mechanics dismantle body parts and components. Like a kid in a candy shop, I sported a HUGE shit-eating grin for two full hours. Priceless!
Not much to write about Saturday morning. However, after lunch, we had the qualifying sessions and Hyperpole classification. As expected, Toyota was Hyperpole for the hypercar class (it was either them, Porsche or Ferrari, so…). In GT3, to a cheering crowd the pink Huracán GT3 Evo2 of the Iron Dames came in first. I have to admit that I began routing for them from then on…
And then came the Big Day. Sunday morning started cloudy and cold, but temperatures improved during the day. The race would start at 11:30am, and during the morning there was a (lame) Porsche and a (embarrassingly lame) Ferrari parade. Fortunately those were short and then the cars lined up on the side of the track. 19 hypercars and 17 GT3 were ready to go. Despite the team working on the car through the night on Friday, the Lexus #83 that crashed did not make it.
The formation lap rolls off and 11:30, on the dot, the checkered flag comes down. To see those 36 beasts roaring up the grandstand straight was out of this world. As expected, the hypercar lead changed hands a dozen times through out the race. Even so, it was a Porsche × Ferrari × Toyota event, and the Toyota GR010 #8 came out on top. Both Penski’s 963 took second (#6) and third places (#5). To the despair of a huge tifosi presence, Ferrari got spanked.
In GT3, the pink Iron Dames’ Lambo lead for the first hour. And then Manthey Pure Rxcing’s 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #92 passed them for first. Unfortunately though, right after that the girls had a bad fuel leak, and the Huracán was out. Car #92 kept in front until the end of the race, but I was REALLY sad to see the Iron Dames out after all their hard work. As I explained to my son, that’s the beauty of endurance racing – to win you have to first finish the race. Never take anything for granted.
When the race finished, it was getting dark, so we went back to the hotel. We had some pasta at a restaurant close by and the following morning we boarded the plane back home. All in all, a fantastic weekend! To the point that I’m seriously thinking of coming back in 2025. Not a very cheap vacation (well, definitively not cheap, in fact), however for a gearhead, three steps down from heaven. Because heaven would be Le Mans 😁. In the end, I brought home memories that I will cherish for ever.
