WEC Preview: 6 Hours of São Paulo

Credit: FIA WEC

As the World Endurance Championship (WEC) paddock cools down from the highs and lows of Le Mans, they're on the move again as we begin the fly-away section of the 2026 season at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil.

Entry list

Last time out in Le Mans the WEC field were joined by a pack of Oreca 07 LMP2s and a handful of one-off entrants in Hypercar and LMGT3, but for the rest of the rounds these season we are back to the full-season grid of 35 cars.

14 of the 17 Hypercars will run with their usual three-driver line-ups, with the exception of both Aston Martins (who usually run the slimmed line-ups for the shorter events) and the No.12 Cadillac. The latter of which is still missing Alex Lynn, while he recovers from a lingering injury.

His initial return date was set for Le Mans, but a postponed procedure has pushed that back, so teammates Norman Nato and Will Stevens will split this weekend's running.

LMGT3 contains a few more changes, due to a clash with IMSA's LMP2 and GTD round at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP).

Kobe Pauwels will return to the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, in place of Eduardo 'Dudu' Barrichello, who chooses to miss his home race to prioritise his championship challenge in IMSA, where he currently leads the GTD class.

Nicky Catsburg will step away from his Le Mans winning No.33 TF Sport Corvette as Nico Varrone joins Ben Keating and Jonny Edgar this weekend. Catsburg will join Barrichello in Canada, as he makes a bid for the title in GTD Pro, where he and Tommy Milner sit third.

Finally, Esteban Masson will step back into the No.78 Lexus after his LMP2 outing in Le Mans where Jack Hawksworth joined the Akkodis ASP crew in his stead.

Championship standings

Hypercar

With double points on offer last time out in Le Mans, the standings in both classes have changed quite a bit.

Leading the way are your 24 Hours of Le Mans winners, Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck De Vries in the No.7 Toyota Racing TR010. With their win securing them 50 championship points, their total is now on 75.

Credit: Evan Roberts

Just four points back on 71 though is the No.20 BMW WRT crew of René Rast and Robin Frijns (Sheldon van der Linde sits 10 points further back, as he missed the season opener in Imola) after their win in Spa and second at Le Mans.

The third crew in the standings are Brendan Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastian Buemi in the No.8 Toyota on 56 points, with the reigning champions in the No.51 Ferrari (Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi) next on 39 points.

Then comes a close fight between the No.35 Alpine (28 points), the No.12 Cadillac (26 points), No.15 BMW (25 points), No.50 Ferrari (23 points), No.007 Aston Martin (22 points), and the No.83 Ferrari (21 points). The six cars are split by just seven points - the difference between a win and second place in a regular six hour WEC race.

Then comes the No.93 Peugeot on six points, the No.17 Genesis, No.36 Alpine and the No.38 Cadillac tied on four, with the No.94 on three. The No.19 Genesis and the No.009 Aston Martin remain this years only non-scorers so far.

LMGT3

The No.33 TF Sport Corvette leads the way in the GT class on 72 points, and will continue to do so no matter what happens this weekend, with their nearest rival 32 points back on 40. That would be the No.21 AF Corse Ferrari, which has yet to see the podium this year, but consistent scoring has put them second.

They are closely followed by a very tight pack however. The No.78 Lexus (37 points), No.10 McLaren (34), No.92 Porsche (34), No.23 Aston Martin (32) and the No.87 Lexus (32) are all only eight points or less behind second place.

Then comes the No.69 WRT BMW on 25 points in eighth, which won the season opener in Imola, but has yet to score a single point since. The sister No.32 is ninth on 22 points. Rounding out the top 10 is the No.27 Aston Martin on 19 points, with the No.91 Porsche, No.58 McLaren and No.34 Corvette all following on 18 points.

It's then quite a sizeable jump back to the two Ford Mustangs, with the No.88 on four points and the No.77 on one. The No.61 Mercedes also has a single point, with the No.54 Ferrari and No.79 Mercedes both non-scorers so far.

The track

Credit: FIA WEC

The Autódromo José Carlos Pace is a 2.6 mile (4.3 km) race track located in the city of São Paulo in Brazil. Each of it's 15 corners (eight left, seven right) present the drivers with a unique challenge, making it a popular track among the drivers.

The heavy braking zone into turn 1 makes for the circuits best overtaking opportunity, with a long straight beforehand. Turns 1 and 2, better known as the Senna S do however, allow for the car being overtaken to switchback and get a run through the long left hander of turn 3 and down the back straight to turn 4.

After another great spot for action at turn 4, the track tightens through the middle sector. Two fast right handers lead into three switchback hairpins, each with it's own unique profile, and challenges.

Just before the final straight, the drivers tackle turn 12, known as Junção. This 90 degree left hander is very important as a bad exit here means drivers will lose a lot of time down the straight. Turns 13, 14 and 15 are all left handed kinks, which will be easily flat out in both classes.

A 1:22.570 was the pole time from the No.12 Cadillac this time last year, with an average speed of 187.9 kph. 1:33.849 was pole in LMGT3, set by the No.10 Aston Martin, a good 11 seconds slower than the Hypercars.

Due to that pace gap, and the short nature of the circuit, traffic management will be absolutely crucial for both classes to do well in this race.

Schedule

Action kicks off at 11:00 local time (15:00 BST) on Friday morning with 90 minutes of Free Practice 1 (FP1), followed by another 90 minutes at 15:50 (19:50 BST) for FP2. FP3 at 10:10 (14:10 BST) gives the team one final hour to prepare for qualifying at 14:30 (18:30 BST).

The race itself will get underway at 11:30 Sunday morning (15:30 BST) and will run until 17:30 (21:30).