LMGT3: Team Turkey by TF claims São Paulo win

Sunday in São Paulo was a memorable day for the TF Sport organisation, as the British-based team scored a second consecutive victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 category at Interlagos, following on from its success in the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month.

The #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Salih Yoluç, Peter Dempsey and Charlie Eastwood took an impressive win, surviving a slow puncture to finish 8.108 seconds ahead of the #69 Team WRT BMW M4 Evo piloted by Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper.

The result marked the maiden FIA WEC triumph for the #34 Racing Team Turkey entry, which employed a different strategy to many of its competitors, with Silver-categorised driver Yoluç starting before handing over to Bronze-rated Dempsey.

That approach paid huge dividends as the former European and Asian Le Mans Series champion drove two flawless stints before handing over to team-mate Dempsey, who became the first competitor from the Republic of Ireland to prevail in FIA WEC since Matt Griffin nine years ago.

The early phase of the race witnessed Johannes Zelger in the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG get the jump on slow-starting pole-sitter Gray Newell in the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage, before Petru Umbrărescu seized the initiative in the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F. 

But the Romanian soon came under attack from the pair of Proton Competition Fords in the opening hour of racing, as first Stefano Gattuso in the #88 Mustang and then Eric Powell in the #77 car headed to the front.

The two American muscle cars diverged their strategy early on, with the Italian handing over to compatriot Giammarco Levorato as soon as his minimum drive time was completed, while the American remained aboard.

But the #34 Corvette was already poised to grab the lead, as ferocious pace by Dempsey in the mid-phase of the race cultivated a key advantage at the front of the 18-strong LMGT3 field.

When Eastwood took over at the beginning of the fifth hour, the Corvette enjoyed a useful lead and the Northern Irish ace was able to pull off passes on both the #69 Team WRT BMW and #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche prior to building a gap that he then held to the chequered flag – notwithstanding some late hidden drama caused by a slow puncture.

“We had a 20-minute window with the guys to short-fuel and then try and manage it to the end,” reflected Eastwood. “Luckily, the valve basically bent inward and we didn’t completely deflate the tyre, but that meant we had to stop on the hour and we actually had to pit before the BMW.

“So all of a sudden, we went from thinking we were very comfortable to having to push on, but once we got into the last part of the stint, I was able to just try and manage the gap to the BMW behind. Both of these guys (Dempsey and Yoluç) were the best they have been this year by far, and yeah, with a green race like that, if you just tick every single box, and there’s not a mistake throughout, you end up getting the result. So, yeah, I’m super happy for everybody at Corvette and TF Sport.”

The Bend Manthey Porsche fought back from a poor qualifying to claim its third podium of the season as Richard Lietz, Yasser Shahin and Riccardo Pera banished the memory of a tough 24 Hours of Le Mans last month.

Lietz was made to work hard for the result, though, as Logan Sargeant in the #88 Proton Ford Mustang engaged the Austrian in a superbly entertaining duel. In the final laps, Lietz was able to ward off the ex-Formula 1 driver by drawing upon all of his experience to defend.

But Sargeant became under fire himself via the sister #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche which surprised Sargeant in the closing minutes as Ayhancan Güven grabbed fourth, demoting the #88 to fifth position.

The #77 Ford Mustang had a difficult end to the race as Sebastien Priaulx attempted to make one fewer stop than the competition but suffered on used tyres and then got a drive-through track-limits penalty to demote the #77 down to a disappointed 10th place.

In the championship chase the #33 TF Sport Corvette’s Jonny Edgar is now the sole leader with both Ben Keating, who missed Imola and Spa  and Nicky Catsburg who raced in IMSA this weekend,  in their teammates wake.

Ben Tuck scooped the Goodyear WingFoot award, voted for by the fans, for his performance over the race in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang.

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