Toyota continued its dominance as it claimed its second World Endurance Championship victory of the season at Interlagos on Sunday.

The Japanese manufacturer’s #8 GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar, driven by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi, has taken victory in the Sao Paulo 6 Hours, comfortably outpacing the two factory Porsche 963 LMDhs driven by Penske.

Buemi crossed the finish line 1m08s ahead of the #6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre, which in turn was 7s ahead of its sister car of Frederic Makowiecki, Michael Christensen and Matt Campbell.

Toyota held the lead for most of the race and would have likely finished 1-2 had it not been for a rare technical issue involving Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 car.

They were the faster of the two GR010s at the fifth round of the 2024 WEC, leading the opening couple of stages until a fuel pressure sensor issue cost the car three minutes as Conway handed over to de Vries early in the third hour.

Conway had established an 18-second gap over Hartley when he was given a drive-through penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement, but he quickly got back ahead of his teammate and was able to re-establish his advantage before the stop.

De Vries and then Kobayashi managed to move the car up the order, the Japanese first moving the car into the top six and then into fourth place in the final hour.

The Japanese driver passed Alessandro Pier Guidi’s Ferrari 499P LMH with five minutes to go after Jenson Button’s #38 Jota customer Porsche had to pit after failing to pass his fourth-placed car due to a tyre pressure violation.

Toyota was able to use its medium-compound Michelin tyre on the aggressive Interlagos surface and in the high temperatures encountered in practice and qualifying.

Of the two tyres used in Sao Paulo, only the softer one was used on the two GR010 cars, while Porsche and Ferrari used the harder tyres during the race.

Start action

Photo: JEP / Motorsport Images

Both Porsche Penske Motorsport entries encountered minor delays throughout the six-hour race.

The #6 car suffered a flat tyre at an early stage when Vanthoor collided with Will Stevens in the #12 Jota Porsche, resulting in the Briton receiving a 30-second penalty.

The championship-leading PPM car looked set to finish behind the team’s other car, despite losing 20 seconds due to a tail-end change by the #5 after contact with a car from the LMGT3 class.

Kobayashi crossed the finish line seven seconds behind Campbell, with Ferrari driver Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi finishing alongside him.

The Italian car was delayed from taking to the track by a Full Course Yellow violation earlier in the race, but the manufacturer was unlikely to repeat its Le Mans 24 Hours victory last month.

The second of AF Corse’s factory 499Ps, shared by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina, finished in the top six on a day when its Le Mans-winning car was no match for its sister car.

Button was joined by Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen in the Jota cars that were best placed in seventh.

Peugeot took eighth place with the #93 9X8 2024 shared by Nico Muller, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne.

The revised version of the French manufacturer’s LMH put in its best performance yet, with Muller able to move up the rankings on the hard tyre as temperatures approached their highest level.

BMW finished ninth with the WRT-driven M Hybrid V8 LMDh shared by Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann, while Alpine snuck into the points with the #36 A424 LMDh shared by Mick Schumacher, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.

Cadillac was unable to defend Alex Lynn’s fourth place on the grid, with Earl Bamber in the V-Series.R finishing 13th after experiencing brake problems.

#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler

Photo: JEP / Motorsport Images

Porsche won the LMGT3 class for the fourth time in five races, while the Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 GT3-R shared by Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm and Alex Malykhin took second place of the season.

Alex Riberas, Daniel Mancinelli and Ian James took victory by one lap ahead of the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Malykhin lagged behind the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 driven by Sarah Bovy, who won pole position in her class, until midway through the first couple of stages, when she was able to pass a car that was clearly having tyre problems and then pull clear ahead.

Halfway through the race, when Rahel Frey was driving and lost coolant, the Lambo driven by Iron Lynx moved into second place.

The Huracan was left in its box for 16 minutes before briefly returning to the track, after which the Italian team retired the Huracan.

Riberas closed in on Bachler late in the penultimate hour and narrowed the gap to four seconds by the final short pit stops.

With Aston using four Goodyear tyres and Porsche using only two, the gap increased to 16 seconds, and after the FCY the gap dropped back to four seconds.

However, Riberas was found to have violated FCY regulations and was given a suspension from driving.

Third place went to the best of the two United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos, with Marino Sato accompanied by Nicolas Pino and Josh Caygill.

They finished 48 seconds behind Aston, which gave the Anglo-American team its first podium finish on its return to GT status in the WEC this year.

Race result: