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The FIA World Endurance Championship is heading overseas for its first long-haul event of the season this weekend as competitors prepare to tackle Brazil’s iconic Autódromo José Carlos Pace, home to the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo – round four of the 2026 campaign.
The nation’s premier motor sport venue featured on the inaugural FIA WEC calendar in 2012 and remained a popular stop on the schedule for three editions before rejoining the fray following a decade-long absence in 2024. Twelve months ago, almost 85,000 enthusiastic fans filled the grandstands and spectator banks – the third-highest attendance of the year.
The track’s flowing 4.309km, 15-turn anticlockwise layout is the shortest of the season, with Hypercars reaching speeds in the region of 305km/h and approximately half of the lap spent at full throttle.
Its altitude – at almost 800 metres above sea level – pushes cars to the limit, with frequent changes in elevation making it particularly demanding for drivers and plentiful overtaking opportunities guaranteeing exhilarating action from lights to flag.
HYPERCAR HEADLINERS POISED FOR SOUTH AMERICAN SCRAP
The last four FIA WEC races in São Paulo have each gone the way of a different manufacturer, with no circuit having ever produced five different winners consecutively – meaning history could be made this weekend. Of the current Hypercar crop, only Toyota and Cadillac have triumphed at the track, with the Japanese giant the sole marque since the world championship’s inception to have prevailed there more than once.
Indeed, Interlagos was the scene of Toyota’s breakthrough victory in the series back in 2012, and the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning TR010 Hybrid will be aiming to follow in the wheeltracks of its ultra-successful TS030 Hybrid and GR010 Hybrid predecessors, both of which took the chequered flag first in Brazil.
Mike Conway – one of the members of last month’s La Sarthe-conquering #7 crew and one of the current world championship leaders – will become only the third driver ever to reach 90 appearances in FIA WEC, joining stablemate Sébastien Buemi and LMGT3 class veteran Richard Lietz. Both Conway and Buemi are counted amongst the 11 previous winners in São Paulo in the 2026 field, in company with Toyota team-mates Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa.
Last year, the story was all about Cadillac, as the American brand broke its duck courtesy of a commanding one-two demonstration with British partner JOTA. The V-Series.R returns to Interlagos as the Hypercar lap record-holder in both qualifying and race trim, and its 2025 victory in South America made Will Stevens and Norman Nato winners on every continent the series has visited.
Since that day, however, Cadillac has yet to reach the rostrum again, with its best subsequent finish being fourth place at Le Mans last month.
If Toyota leads the way in the chase for the crown and Cadillac is the in-form marque at Interlagos, then BMW is the dark horse heading into the weekend. The current campaign is the first in which three different crews have led the standings in the top tier over the course of the opening three rounds, and one of them was the Bavarian manufacturer’s #20 line-up of René Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde, which led a top-two lockout at Spa-Francorchamps and followed that up with the runner-up spoils last time out at La Sarthe.
The Belgian result represented BMW’s first outright victory in global endurance racing in almost 27 years, and having conceded the championship lead to Toyota in north-western France three weeks ago, the German car maker is eager to redress the balance.
Ferrari’s dominant early-season run in 2025 came to an abrupt halt in São Paulo, and the famous Maranello-based marque has not won a race since. Nor has the 499P prototype ever placed higher than fifth in Brazil – a statistic the team will be keen to quash this weekend.
MULTIPLE MARQUES PRIMED TO SHINE IN LMGT3
As in Hypercar, FIA WEC hailed a new LMGT3 winner at Interlagos last year, following a similarly impressive performance by Akkodis ASP Team’s Lexus RC F. Following a shaky start to the 2026 season marred by reliability issues at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps, Akkodis made good on its palpable promise at Le Mans with a superb second-place finish.
Aston Martin is the only brand to register multiple LMGT3 rostrums in São Paulo. Underscoring the Vantage’s affinity with the track, no GT competitor has accumulated more top three finishes there than the British manufacturer’s total of eight. Aston Martin is also the joint-winningest marque at Interlagos across all FIA WEC classes combined.
As an indication of the form guide, the three LMGT3 manufacturers that celebrated on the podium in Brazil last year – Lexus, Aston Martin and Corvette – were reunited on the rostrum last month at Le Mans, while Imola winner BMW will be hoping to leverage the local knowledge in its #32 Team WRT M4 Evo in the shape of Augusto Farfus, one of two home heroes in the event alongside ‘Pipo’ Derani in Genesis Magma Racing’s #17 GMR-001 Hypercar.
WEEKEND GUIDE
On-track action begins with Free Practice on Friday, 10 July. Qualifying, including the Hyperpole top-ten shootout, starts at 14:30 local time (GMT-3) on Saturday, 11 July, before the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo gets underway at 11:30 local time (GMT-3) on Sunday, 12 July.
For the event timetable, entry list and all the essential information click here.
World Endurance Championship
WECEndurance6 Hours of Sao PauloWEC
SEASON 2026SportCircuit1SportWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2026WECEndurance6 Hours of Sao Paulo00Tuesday, July 7, 2026 – 3:57pmTuesday, July 7, 2026 – 3:57pm
