The FIA World Endurance Championship heads into the second half of the 2026 season as the paddock arrives in Brazil for the 6 Hours of São Paulo at Interlagos. Toyota leads both the Hypercar Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championships after the #7 claimed victory and the #8 secured a podium finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
BMW currently sits second in the manufacturers’ standings, while Ferrari trails by 70 points. Historically, Interlagos has not been a favourable circuit for the Ferrari 499P, which struggled there in both 2024 and, even more significantly, in 2025. Cadillac, meanwhile, returns to the venue where it celebrated a memorable one-two finish 12 months ago. The pace has been there throughout the season, but the results have yet to match the potential.
Toyota arrives in Brazil full of confidence after Le Mans
The sixth edition of the 6 Hours of São Paulo sees Toyota sitting at the top of both world championships. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries vaulted into the championship lead after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans aboard the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
However, the #20 BMW Team WRT has consistently been one of the strongest contenders throughout the season, regularly outperforming the sister #15 entry. Ignoring the Balance of Performance for a moment, the Brazilian circuit is expected to suit Toyota—already victorious there in 2012 and 2024—as well as BMW and Cadillac, which secured a historic one-two finish at Interlagos in 2025 with Jota.
Another defensive weekend for Ferrari?
Ferrari knows that São Paulo, together with Fuji, represents one of the most difficult challenges on the calendar. The characteristics of the Ferrari 499P have never been particularly well suited to the technical and twisty layout of Interlagos, judging by the previous two editions. As a result, all three Ferrari crews will need to maximise every opportunity to score valuable championship points.
The retirements suffered by the #51 at Spa and the #50 at Le Mans certainly damaged Ferrari’s championship hopes. However, podium finishes for the #51 at Imola and the #50 at Spa have kept the Italian manufacturer firmly in contention in both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championships, especially considering that the 499P has yet to receive the extensive upgrade packages introduced by many of its Hypercar rivals.
In the Drivers’ standings, the benchmark remains the #51 crew, currently 36 points behind with 156 points still available. Ferrari sits third in the Manufacturers’ Championship, trailing Toyota by 70 points.
Cadillac must finally convert pace into results
Expectations remain high for Cadillac, not only because of last year’s dominant performance at Interlagos but also thanks to the impressive competitiveness of the V-Series.R package. Aerodynamic developments have produced an excellent overall balance, yet the results have failed to reflect the car’s true potential.
Accidents, reliability problems, penalties and a disappointing Le Mans have prevented Cadillac and Jota from collecting the points their pace deserved. The objective in Brazil is clear: finally translate performance into a podium finish—or perhaps even victory.
Alpine continues to deliver mixed results, with the #35 consistently outperforming the less competitive #36. Peugeot and Aston Martin also remain in a similar position, still searching for greater consistency.
Genesis, meanwhile, continues its learning programme. The GMR 001 #17 reached the finish on its Le Mans debut, while the #19 retired after suffering a suspension failure.
LMGT3: Corvette leads, AF Corse Ferrari chases
TF Sport’s #33 Corvette currently leads the LMGT3 standings, although the championship battle will change after São Paulo because the three drivers will no longer share identical participation. With Nicky Catsburg competing in IMSA and Ben Keating sidelined through injury until Le Mans, only Jonny Edgar will have contested every round and could extend his advantage if he scores more points.
Ferrari’s hopes rest with the AF Corse #21 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO of Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and François Hériau. The trio sits third in the standings and is still searching for its first victory after appearing destined to win at Spa before receiving an unsafe release penalty.
Behind AF Corse are the #78 Lexus Akkodis ASP, which finished second at Le Mans, followed by the #10 Garage 59 McLaren. Le Mans proved disastrous for the British manufacturer, leaving it 38 points behind, while the #92 Manthey Porsche also dropped dramatically from first to seventh after retiring with steering problems.
Mattia Drudi will also be hoping for a stronger result in Brazil with the #27 Aston Martin Vantage entered by THOR. A gearbox failure ended the team’s Le Mans challenge, and the trio of Drudi, Robichon and James now targets a strong finish at Interlagos to reduce the gap in the standings.
Entry list for the 6 Hours of São Paulo
Alex Lynn will once again miss the São Paulo round as he continues recovering from neck surgery, which has kept him out of the #12 Cadillac since the beginning of the season. Jota therefore continues with the pairing of Will Stevens and Norman Nato, while the #38 features the familiar line-up of Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais and Jack Aitken.
In LMGT3, Nicky Catsburg will miss the race after being called up by General Motors to compete in the IMSA championship at Mosport with the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. He will be replaced by Nico Varrone, the 2023 GTE-Am world champion with Corvette, who also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year and currently serves as a VAR driver in Formula 2.
For the same IMSA scheduling conflict, Dudu Barrichello will also miss his home race despite finishing on the podium there in 2025. As happened at Imola, Aston Martin junior Kobe Pauwels will take his place.
Finally, Esteban Masson returns to the #78 Lexus Akkodis after competing at Le Mans with the Forestier by Panis LMP2 entry, which finished third overall in class. At Le Mans, his seat had been filled by Jack Hawksworth, who will instead be racing in America this weekend with Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus RC F GT3.
2026 WEC 6 Hours of São Paulo schedule
The race will be broadcast live on Sky Sport, WEC+ and Discovery platforms. Below is the complete schedule for the fifth round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Friday, July 10
- 16:00 – 17:30 | Free Practice 1
- 20:50 – 22:20 | Free Practice 2
Saturday, July 11
- 15:10 – 16:10 | Free Practice 3
- 19:30 – 20:45 | Qualifying
Sunday, July 12
- 16:30 – 22:30 | Race
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