Callum Ilott led a Porsche 1-2-3 in the final Practice for WEC Sao Paulo 6 Hours with the top three finishing within less than a tenth of a second.
HERTZ Team JOTA’s Callum Ilott set the benchmark aboard the No. 12 Porsche 963, marking the third Hypercar team to secure the fastest time in three practice sessions at WEC Sao Paulo after Peugeot and Toyota topped during FP1 and FP2 respectively on Friday.
The session began in perfect dry conditions but later saw brief intervals of light rain. This prevented teams from making any meaningful improvements in lap times.
With Ilott piloting the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963, outran the two factory Porsche Penske Motorsport rivals, recording a fastest lap of 1:24.297 early in the 60-minute session which was hit by a light downpour after 15 minutes of track action.
Matt Campbell was second fastest in the No. 5 Porsche with a time of 1:24.309, while Kevin Estre was third the World Endurance Championship points leading No. 6 entry.
The No. 35 Alpine A424 finished an outstanding fourth in the hands of Charles Milesi, while Dries Vanthoor’s No. 15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 rounded out the top five in the Hypercar class.
Daniil Kvyat’s 1:24.723 lap put the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 in sixth place ahead of Jenson Button in the No. 38 JOTA Porsche. The leading Ferrari 499P was eighth in the hands of Antonio Fuoco while the Robert Shwartzman-driven No. 83 AF Corse entry and the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 completed the top-ten.
Notably, Mick Schumacher set the 11th fastest time in the second Alpine ahead of the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids that topped on Friday which were only 13th and 14th, with the solo Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R. coming in 15th.
Alex Malykhin in the No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R led in LMGT3, with the UK-licensed Bronze-rated driver clocking a lap time of 1:35.488.
Nico Pino in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo was the second fastest in class ahead of Sarah Bovy in the No. 85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. It was an encouraging session for United Autosports, as the sister McLaren GT3 Evo placed fourth with the #95 getting within a tenth of the Pure Rxcing 911 with a 1:35.550.
There were no significant incidents during the session. However, there was a contact between Matthieu Vaxiviere’s No. 36 Alpine and Karl Wattana Bennett’s No. 11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C, which resulted in Bennett spinning.
