Jonny Edgar Scores Valuable FIA WEC Points in São Paulo
Valuable FIA WEC Points in São Paulo
Jonny Edgar maintained his lead in the LMGT3 standings with a hard-fought points finish at the 6 Hours of São Paulo, securing eighth place and four valuable FIA World Endurance Championship points after a challenging weekend in Brazil.
Arriving in Sao Paulo on the back of consecutive victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and IMSA’s Six Hours of The Glen, the Cumbrian driver was in strong form. However, it quickly became clear that the weekend would demand resilience, with Balance of Performance adjustments placing the team on the back foot from the outset.
Across Friday and Saturday’s practice session, the team focused on extracting the maximum from their Corvette Z06 around the technical Interlagos circuit, while also integrating Nico Varrone into the line-up. The Argentine stepped in for Nicky Catsburg, who was competing in IMSA commitments elsewhere, and quickly came up to speed.
As per LMGT3 regulations, Bronze-rated driver Ben Keating took on qualifying duties and delivered a strong performance. Showing consistent improvement throughout the sessions, Keating secured 12th on the grid, narrowly missing out on a place in the Hyperpole shootout.
Race day brought cooler, overcast conditions, providing a slightly different challenge. Keating’s opening stint was composed and clean, keeping the #33 Corvette clear of trouble in a tightly packed field. From there, Varrone and Jonny worked methodically to move the car up the order on a circuit where traffic management proved critical.
BRDC Superstar Jonny’s stint was particularly measured, as he navigated heavy congestion and multiple on-track incidents between Hypercar and LMGT3 competitors. Maintaining consistency and avoiding trouble proved key, and after handing the car back to Varrone for the closing stages, the team secured a well-earned eighth-place finish and crucial championship points.
Jonny: “It wasn’t our easiest weekend for sure, but the team did a great job as always,” said Jonny. “I think we did everything we could, Nico did a solid job jumping in the Corvette for this weekend. Thinking about the championship, it was very important we got as many points as possible which I believe we did and it’s good that we can head to the next round at COTA with an advantage over the chasing pack. I have to say congratulations to our sister car on their first win of the season. It’s great for the team to take back-to-back wins following our success at Le Mans. They really deserved the win.”
The FIA WEC resumes at the Circuit of The Americas on 4-6 September. Before then, Jonny returns to IMSA competition for the penultimate round of the Endurance Cup with AO Racing and their “Spike The Dragon” LMP2 entry at Road America on 31 July – 2 August. The race will be broadcast live on the championship’s YouTube channel.
