A fascinating cat-and-mouse game of multiple strategies continues to play out at the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, as Alpine and BMW fought it out at the front in the mid-portion of the race
António Félix da Costa held the lead for the majority of the third and fourth hours in the #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424 Hypercar, but the striking blue prototype remained off-strategy compared to the vast majority of its competitors
The flying Raffaele Marciello hunted down the offset-strategised Alpine, applying significant pressure as the fifth hour arrived
The pair engaged in an entertaining battle, with the BMW moving ahead at Turn Four but immediately running wide, enabling da Costa to re-take the lead as the Brazilian crowd was treated to an epic spectacle
Marciello was unable to reclaim the initiative on-track, obliging him to wait until his Portuguese rival pitted and gave the cockpit to Charles Milesi just before the fifth hour ticked over
Da Costa’s rear-guard action allowed the third-placed #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi to close to within two seconds of leader Marciello and allow the Prancing Horse a chance to battle for what had earlier looked an unlikely chance of a win for the first time since Le Mans over a year ago
But just before the fifth hour, there was drama for the #51 as Calado collected some track signage after an excursion at the exit of the pit-lane while rejoining after taking over from Pier Guidi; the reigning champion was able to continue, albeit with the signage still stuck to the Ferrari
The recovering #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R lost further time when Will Stevens had contact with the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus of Clemens Schmid and then the #83 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Phil Hanson; Stevens got hit with a five-second penalty for the first of those incidents
Norman Nato took over behind the wheel during the third hour, and was able to keep the #12 within striking distance of the leader as he ran fifth
Filling out the top current top six is the Hanson-piloted #83 AF Corse Ferrari, although the Le Mans winner will have to serve a 10-second penalty at his next pit-stop following a clash with the #23 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 entry of Kobe Pauwels
Next up is the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, which Earl Bamber handed over to Sébastien Bourdais for the mid-phase of the race
The #50 Ferrari sits eighth, ahead of the pair of Aston Martin Valkyries that are in search of their first double points score of the season
The #36 Alpine lost time in the middle of the race as Victor Martins was penalised for a pit-stop infraction, dropping it to 11th
The threat of rain hangs over the circuit, with localised showers skirting the Autódromo José Carlos Pace as the fifth hour arrived
LMGT3
Racing Team Turkey by TF continues to control the LMGT3 category, with Peter Dempsey pulling out a useful gap over a snarling pack of pursuers
The #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F fought back from being spun around by the #12 Cadillac Hypercar, and runs second as varying strategies play out in the fiercely-contested production-based class
But in a net second place is the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang driven by Ben Tuck, who held off the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche that had cycled up the field after opening stints by Yasser Shahin and then a strong mid-phase effort from Richard Lietz
Team WRT made it four different manufacturers inside the leading four positions, as the #69 BMW M4 Evo with its vibrant Brazilian flag livery continues its strong display in the hands of Parker Thompson
The second of the Proton Competition Mustangs runs fifth, after Logan Sargeant took to the cockpit and engaged in an entertaining battle with the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage, in which Ian James had completed a mammoth opening few stints
There was plenty of action in the mid-stage of the race, including several skirmishes; Sean Gelael and Rui Andrade locked horns in the fourth hour, as the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG spun following contact with the BMW at Turn Four, but no further action was decided upon for the clash
Shortly afterwards, the sister Mercedes driven by Lin Hodenius was turned around at Turn One having been punted by the Tom Gamble-piloted #007 Aston Martin, which served a 10-second penalty for the incident
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