WEC Sao Paulo 2025: Porsche takes both Friday best times

(Motorsport-Total.com) - The World Endurance Championship (WEC) begins the post-Le Mans portion of its 2025 season in Brazil. The 6-hour race at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace promises to be a thrilling one under the new BoP conditions : Will Ferrari's winning streak be broken? Will Aston Martin continue its upward trend? And can Mick Schumacher claim his first WEC victory?

For the WEC and the Hypercar regulations, Interlagos is also about credibility. A BoP-based formula isn't meant to produce serial winners. After Ferrari's dominance in the first half of the season, the competition is now solely concerned with damage limitation—and the will to win is correspondingly strong. ( All information: 6h Sao Paulo 2025 )

In the GT category, the question is whether ASP can finally translate the speed of its Lexus RC F GT3 into a tangible result. Iron Lynx, on the other hand, hopes to get back on track with the Mercedes-AMG LMGT3.

Another unknown: The 4.309-kilometer track in Sao Paulo has been completely resurfaced once again. This last happened in 2014, which represents an unusually short interval. Michelin will be bringing medium and hard compounds to the Hypercar class, and a new hard Goodyear tire will debut in the LMGT3.

This is how the training went

2nd Free Practice: Unlike last year, when Arnold Robin's serious accident on Friday caused drama, the first day of practice passed without incident this time. Kevin Estre set the second consecutive fastest time for the #6 Porsche (Estre/L. Vanthoor) with a time of 1:23.508 minutes. By comparison, the best time in the second practice session in 2024 was 1:25.727 minutes.

Once again, the field was very close, with four cars pulling away slightly: the two factory Porsches in first and second place, the #15 BMW (D. Vanthoor/Magnussen/Marciello), and the #12 Cadillac (Lynn/Nato/Stevens). The #007 Aston Martin (Tincknell/Gamble) finished a strong fifth – further evidence of the British brand's upward trend.

Six manufacturers made it into the top 10, with only Alpine falling slightly behind in absolute speed, finishing 14th and 15th. But even the two A424s were still within one second of the fastest time.

Local hero Eduardo "Dudu" Barrichello ended the Lexus dominance in the LMGT3 class, taking the #10 RSL Aston Martin (McIntosh/Barrichello/Hasse-Clot) to the top of the standings with a time of 1:34.493 minutes. The two ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3s were penalized: their fastest laps up to 3:54 p.m. local time were deleted for ignoring a double-yellow flag.

In addition, ASP received a fine of 500 euros for replacing the transponder after the specified deadline.

Free Practice 1: A sensationally close field characterized the first practice session. All eight manufacturers were within 0.307 seconds of each other – 13 cars even finished within half a second. All hypercars except for a Ferrari and an Aston Martin finished within a one-second window. ( Results of Free Practice 1 )

The first session started 17 minutes late due to a technical problem on the track. The #6 Porsche (Estre/L. Vanthoor) finished at the top of the timesheets thanks to a best time of 1:25.176 minutes from Laurens Vanthoor, 0.084 seconds ahead of the #50 Ferrari (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen). The best time on the new asphalt is 1.165 seconds faster than last year's (1:26.341).

With the exception of Aston Martin, all manufacturers placed at least one car in the top 10; BMW, Cadillac, and Ferrari even had two. But the Valkyries also appear to be in the mix for the first time: The Aston Martin #009 (Riberas/Sörensen) was just 0.307 seconds behind in eleventh place.

Despite the close time distribution, caution is advised. Remember: in 2024, Peugeot also set a fastest time in the first practice session, but had no chance after that.

In the LMGT3 class, the two ASP Lexus cars dominated, as usual. Jose Maria Lopez and Finn Gehrsitz set the first fastest times in the new asphalt window. The AF Corse Ferrari #54 (Flohr/Castellacci/Rigon) came to a stop after a collision with the BMW #20 (Rast/Wittmann/S. van der Linde), triggering a brief FCY phase.