LMGT3 title fight set to heat up at Interlagos

With Le Mans now in the rear-view mirror, the focus for the front-running teams in the FIA WEC turns to the title battles as the run to the Bahrain finale in November gets underway this weekend in São Paulo.

In Hypercar, a fourth straight win for Ferrari last month at Le Mans has essentially made it a three-horse race in the drivers’ standings between the 499P crews. The No. 51 trio of James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi hold a 16-point advantage over the Le Mans winners in the No. 83. Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50, meanwhile, are now 48 points back in third, with their title hopes dented after being disqualified from Le Mans.

The manufacturers’ standings reflect the Italian marque’s dominance, too, with Ferrari leading Toyota by 77 points. Even if Ferrari struggles in Brazil, as it did last year, it feels almost inevitable that it will claim both major Hypercar championships for the first time in 2025.

There will likely be no love lost between the AF Corse crews in the remaining races to keep things interesting, and if things turn around for either Toyota or Porsche’s leading crews, then perhaps we could see a late charge from an outsider. Either way, LMGT3 appears poised to deliver the most excitement for the remainder of the season, with a multi-brand fight.

As it stands, the spotlight is on Manthey EMA’s Richard Lietz, Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera. They now lead the standings by four points over the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari drivers in second and 21 points over the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette crew in third after claiming their second victory of the season last time out.

Their rough start to the year in Qatar (which ended with zero points on the board) seems like a distant memory now, as the No. 92 Porsche has come alive in recent months, winning two of the last three races, including the double-points paying Le Mans 24 Hours.

“The first race was a struggle,” Lietz reflects. “Since then, we’ve improved our package and benefited from a bit of luck here and there.

“Imola was great, the first win in WEC for Ryan and Ricky (Pera), and it makes it easier to repeat in the future because of the boost in confidence. Then at Le Mans, we got Ryan’s drive time done early and prayed for a green race, which is what we got. That helped us a lot, and it produced a good old-school endurance race. So we come into this race happy with where we are.”

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The 911 GT3 R won 2024’s encounter in Brazil with Manthey Pure Rxcing, but repeating that feat won’t be easy, in part because the LMGT3 field has never been tighter, but also because the No. 92 will be running with 36 kilos of success ballast, which will affect its agility on the 2.7-mile undulating anti-clockwise circuit.

“Weight never helps, and here the hill to the start finish is very tough for heavy cars,” Lietz tells RACER. “In a six-hour race like this, if we are lucky and there aren’t many safety cars, then we may be OK. We know how much the weight costs us per lap and how the car reacts. But we will have to see how it pans out.”

Tire wear on the resurfaced Interlagos is a key unknown heading into the weekend. Javier Jimenez/DPPI

However, there is a belief from Lietz and the Manthey team that even if the car isn’t the fastest over a single lap, two key factors this weekend could act as a leveler, bringing them into play. The first is that Goodyear’s new LMGT3 hard tire is being used for the first time. The second is that the circuit has been fully resurfaced since the WEC last visited. The data gathered from last year’s visit will therefore need to be put almost entirely to one side, and every lap during practice will be valuable.

“It’s a weekend with a lot of unknowns,” Lietz explains. “The tire is something we tested in very hot conditions in Spain, but we haven’t driven it here or on the new tarmac. So I’ll go out first with a baseline setup and see if it’s drivable before Ryan and Ricky go out, because they need plenty of time here and Ricky hasn’t ever driven here.”

Since a number of the LMGT3 manufacturers took part in the development of Goodyear’s new red-labeled hard compound, the biggest question mark is the track surface. If it’s significantly smoother and easier on the tires, then lap times should improve, and the drivers should find it much easier to manage degradation over multiple stints. If that’s the case, then strategically, this race could play out very differently from last year’s.

Interestingly, the forecast suggests we will see most of the track action held in the low 70s F. That could throw a wrench in the works, too. Will the teams racing with front-engined cars (AKKODIS ASP, Iron Lynx, Proton Competition, etc.) find it easier to switch on their front tires and keep them warm during restarts in the race?

“Using a harder tire on a colder surface may throw up some big challenges for everyone,” Lietz points out. “There’s a lot of information we will need to gather regarding tire wear front and rear and to find the balance as the circuit tends to understeer with all the slow hairpins.

“I’m happy for this new challenge, but it’s difficult to know whether we will have a chance going into the weekend. It will be about who can adapt the quickest.”