São Paulo Six Hours

This weekend, the McLaren duo took P8 (#59) and P9 (#95) in the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in front of 85,000 strong crowds, securing top ten finishes for the papaya team in the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

James Cottingham secured P2 for the #59 crew in Qualifying, sending Sebastien Baud into Hyperpole for the fourth time this season. From there, Baud delivered P6 and alongside sister #95 locked out the third row of the grid at Autodromo de Interlagos. Come race day, James drove competitively in the #59, working the new Goodyear hard compound tyre - which was used for the first time by the LMGT3 class at Sao Paulo – and holding position in the top five to the first pit stop. Continuing the good work in his second stint in a mixed field of Bronze and Gold drivers, Cottingham handed over to Sebastien Baud in P9 with his drive time completed.

Baud gained more places for the #59, climbing into the top five - while Sean Gelael in the #95 McLaren, slowed by a penalty relating to tyre pressures for the earlier puncture - worked his way back into the top 10. Gregoire Saucy took on the final stretch with two hours on the clock, with thrilling battles along the way. Saucy went on the hunt for P7 after serving a questionable drive through penalty for blue flag procedures and, in his final stint, closed the gap in the last stint from 35 to 0.2 seconds, averaging 1.2 seconds faster per lap than the car in front … but sadly, the Swiss driver ran out of time. #59 MCLAREN GT3 EVO

QUALI P6 | RACE P8 | CHAMP P8

James Cottingham: “I think all weekend, it felt like we had really good pace. Qualifying P2 and then Hyperpole P6 seemed like a strong place to start. But in the race, we didn’t have the second stint pace. There was an unfortunate drive through for Gregoire which doesn’t seem to be justified … without that we could have finished maybe fifth or sixth. We really need to get some more podiums before the end of the season!”

Sebastien Baud: “A bit disappointing, I think we could have finished in the top five. Gregoire did a very good job pushing to the end, but the race was difficult for us. A lot of degradation on the tyres … it was very difficult for everybody. Now it is very important to stay focussed for CoTA.”

Gregoire Saucy: “We had quite strong pace at the end. I tried my best to close the gap and get to P7. It was really close, I was just missing one more lap to make it happen! With regards to the penalty, I got no blue flag on track, but I got one on the display in the car saying ‘Blue Flag Hypercar’ and I got overtaken by two Hypercars during half of the lap. And then I did almost one lap with the LMGT3 behind but there was no blue flag for LMGT3. The first time I got it was in the last corner, I got a blue flag on the main straight and I let him by into Turn 1. So there was something wrong on the display in the car to say ‘Blue Flag Hypercar’ instead of LMGT3.”