Last year’s visit to Interlagos left many wondering whether the FIA World Endurance Championship had simply been caught out by the circuit. Twelve months later, São Paulo delivered its answer.
Three different manufacturers finished within just 6.6 seconds after six hours of almost uninterrupted green-flag running, while strategy, execution and the smallest of mistakes repeatedly reshuffled the order. Some teams left Brazil with plenty to celebrate. Others will head for Austin knowing they have let a golden opportunity slip away.
Winner – BMW
After claiming a one-two finish at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and finishing second at Le Mans, BMW secured its third consecutive Hypercar podium and its second victory in the category – the first for the #15 crew of Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen.
“Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor did a perfect job, as did the team,” said BMW M Motorsport Head Andreas Roos after the finish. “A big compliment also goes to the No.20 crew, who gained ten positions in such a competitive field after a difficult qualifying. We head into the second half of the season with great anticipation.”
The Bavarian manufacturer could have enjoyed an even bigger points haul had Robin Frijns not received a five-second post-race penalty for contact with the No.50 Ferrari in the closing stages.
With four rounds remaining, BMW now sits second in the Manufacturers’ Championship, just five points behind Toyota. In the Drivers’ standings, Robin Frijns and René Rast have drawn level with the #7 Toyota trio and even move ahead on countback thanks to their greater number of second-place finishes.
Loser – Toyota
Toyota endured one of its toughest weekends in recent memory.
After being hit by the #17 Genesis GMR-001 in the second hour, Brendon Hartley was forced to make two unscheduled visits to the pits to repair the steering linkage, including one that lasted more than 16 minutes. The #8 TR010 Hybrid lost 12 laps in the process, ending any hope of a meaningful result.
Surprisingly off the pace throughout the weekend at Interlagos, Toyota also left Brazil empty-handed after the sister #7 failed to score points. A five-second penalty for a start procedure infringement was followed by a drive-through for a Full Course Yellow violation in the second hour, leaving the winners of the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans to salvage no better than 12th place.
“Obviously it was a very difficult race,” admitted Kamui Kobayashi. “It’s not what we wanted before coming here, but we lacked performance all week, including in the race. We also made a couple of mistakes during the race and that doesn’t help. We need to learn from this and improve.”
The championship picture has suddenly become much tighter for the Japanese manufacturer, whose advantage in both the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ standings has been significantly reduced.
Winner – Ferrari
Rarely has Ferrari looked so pleased with a second-place finish.
The Italian manufacturer could even have been celebrating victory had the #50 499P not seen its hopes dashed by a drive-through penalty for speeding under Full Course Yellow.
Instead, it was the sister #51 that carried the fight to BMW, crossing the line just 2.2 seconds behind the winning #15 after six hours of racing. That result came despite a late scare for James Calado, who clipped the tyre barriers while exiting the pits during the final stint and dragged an advertising banner with him during an entire stint.
Fortunately for Ferrari, the incident caused no damage, allowing Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi to continue untroubled to the chequered flag. Like many observers, Ferrari had not expected to be so competitive at one of the circuits that has traditionally suited the 499P the least.
“The effort put into thoroughly analysing last year’s race and understanding how to improve our cars on a circuit that is always one of the most difficult for us has paid off for everyone,” said Head of Endurance Race Cars Ferdinando Cannizzo. “We managed to bring our cars – which started further back on the grid – into the leading positions, exploiting the 499P’s performance and a strategy that was quite risky but always calculated to fight for the podium.”
Beyond the result itself, Ferrari’s performance will be a source of encouragement.
Loser – Cadillac
After leaving Le Mans as arguably the biggest loser despite locking out the front row, Cadillac suffered another frustrating weekend at Interlagos.
History appeared to be on its side. Each of the previous five editions of the 6 Hours of São Paulo had been won by a car starting from the front row, exactly where the two Cadillac Team JOTA V-Series.Rs lined up for the second consecutive year.
But the race quickly slipped away.
The opening pit stop proved costly, with the #12 delayed by a stuck wheel nut and the #38 losing time after stopping slightly out of position in its pit box. Around 20 seconds disappeared for each car. Contacts, penalties and further setbacks followed, leaving Cadillac with far too much ground to recover despite having arguably the fastest package on track.
“Unfortunately with the pit stops we lost time, and the race stayed green for most of the way, which made it very hard to recover,” explained Cadillac Racing Chief Engineer Jeremy Moore.
Even so, the #12 finished third, just ahead of the sister #38. That result says plenty about the pace of the V-Series.R, which topped the race in terms of average fastest laps. Once again, however, Cadillac Team JOTA leaves a race weekend wondering what might have been.
Winner – The WEC
Twelve months ago, Interlagos produced one of the least memorable races of the Hypercar era. This year’s edition could hardly have been more different.
The 2026 6 Hours of São Paulo delivered six hours of flat-out, uninterrupted racing, with three manufacturers separated by just 6.6 seconds at the chequered flag. It was exactly the kind of spectacle the FIA World Endurance Championship had been hoping for.
Without Alpine’s late-race misfortune, the final top five could even have featured four different manufacturers.
LMGT3 proved just as competitive, with only eight seconds separating the class winner from the runner-up after six hours of racing.
In front of a crowd of 85,000 spectators, Interlagos reminded everyone why it deserves its place on the WEC calendar.
Loser – Alpine
Despite leading with around 40 minutes remaining, Alpine was not truly on course for victory. Having committed to an offset strategy in the opening hour, Charles Milesi would have needed a late splash of energy regardless of what happened during the closing stages.
As it turned out, he never even had the chance to gamble. A right-rear puncture ended the #35 A424’s hopes before the final stint, after the sister car had already suffered the same problem earlier in the race.
“I think we would have finished fifth on pure pace,” reflected Alpine Sporting Director Nicolas Lapierre. “It’s difficult to accept because we had really good pace. We lost some time in traffic at the start, so we decided to try something different strategically. It was an aggressive call, but the lack of interruptions meant it simply didn’t pay off.”
Instead of fighting near the front, the #35 crossed the line in 10th place, one position ahead of the sister #36. A frustrating outcome for a team that deserved considerably more from its afternoon.
Winner – Racing Team Turkey by TF
LMGT3 may not have produced a fourth different winning manufacturer in four races this season, but it did deliver a fourth different winning crew.
This time, it was the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R that came out on top after another dramatic finish in the category.
As Charlie Eastwood explained afterwards, the foundations for victory had been laid much earlier in the race.
“We came out behind the Porsche and BMW, but we knew we had a fuel advantage at the stop because obviously we were able to extend with Peter because his pace was so strong, which was great. So, we got up to the back of both (Daniel) Harper and (Riccardo) Pera, and then in the battle with Harper, we actually got a puncture.”
“So, we had a sort of 20-minute window with the guys to short fuel and then try and manage it to the end. Luckily, the valve basically bent inward and we didn’t actually completely deflate the tyre. That meant we had to stop on the hour, before the BMW, but everything worked out.”
The BMW Team WRT #69 and The Bend Manthey Porsche #92 completed the podium, underlining once again just how fiercely contested the LMGT3 category has become in 2026.