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Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor secured a narrow victory for BMW in the 6 Hours of São Paulo at Interlagos, the third round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship. The #15 car finished just 2.254 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s #51 after six hours of closely fought racing, with Will Stevens bringing the #12 Cadillac home third.
The result completed a recovery drive for BMW after Magnussen started fourth, behind the front-row Cadillacs of Stevens and Earl Bamber and Fred Makowiecki’s Alpine. Magnussen passed Makowiecki in the opening laps and then moved beyond Bamber, while Stevens remained just ahead until the first pit-stop sequence disrupted both Cadillac entries.
The #12 lost time after a wheel nut was dropped, while Bamber’s #38 car had to be repositioned in its pit box before refuelling. Alpine briefly moved to the front with an offset fuel strategy, but the lead repeatedly changed hands between the #15 BMW and #35 Alpine as the race settled into its rhythm.
The Cadillac cars recovered strongly after their slow stops, although tyre wear at Interlagos forced them to change right-side tyres frequently. That gave them fresh rubber but could not completely erase the time lost during the earlier service. By the halfway point, the #12 had climbed back to second with Norman Nato aboard.
Ferrari, meanwhile, turned a difficult qualifying result into a genuine victory challenge. Starting ninth, the #51 advanced to third through the consistent race pace of Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi before James Calado took over for the final stint. The changing temperatures also brought Ferrari into contention as the race moved towards its decisive phase.
The key battle came in the fourth hour, when Marciello caught Antonio Felix da Costa’s Alpine. Marciello briefly passed at the Turn 4 left-hander but ran off track on the exit and returned the position. The BMW eventually inherited the lead when Alpine stopped according to its offset strategy.
In the final sequence, Dries Vanthoor beat Calado out of the pits. Alpine’s #35 was then forced into an earlier-than-planned stop because of a slow puncture, promoting Ferrari to second. Calado pushed hard in pursuit, but Vanthoor held firm to take the flag.
The victory followed a weekend previewed as a tight contest between Toyota, BMW, Ferrari and Cadillac at Interlagos. Read the São Paulo WEC preview.
The LMGT3 victory went to Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey in the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Sport Corvette. The Corvette finished eight seconds ahead of Daniel Harper’s #69 WRT BMW, with the #91 Manthey Porsche third.
Yoluc started 10th and moved into contention before the first cycle of stops. Dempsey maintained the lead, while Eastwood completed the final stint to deliver another tight class finish at the end of six hours.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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