BMW M Team WRT claimed its second FIA World Endurance Championship win of 2026 in the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, with Kevin Magnussen, Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello holding off Ferrari in a tense final hour.
According to the FIA WEC’s official race report, the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 led for long stretches of the six-hour Interlagos encounter before losing the net lead in the penultimate hour when Vanthoor ran wide, handing the advantage to Ferrari’s James Calado. A shorter final fuel stop, made possible by fuel saved earlier in the run, allowed Vanthoor to reclaim the lead before the chequered flag.
Vanthoor Fights Through Discomfort To Seal Maiden Hypercar Win
Vanthoor crossed the line 2.254 seconds clear of the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi, with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s Will Stevens and Norman Nato completing the podium. Motorsport.com reported that Vanthoor felt unwell entering the closing stint and had to manage his breathing while still controlling the car, traffic and pressure from the chasing Ferrari — a personal battle that made the eventual margin all the more striking.
It marked a maiden Hypercar win for all three BMW drivers, continuing the build-up ReadMotorsport tracked in its São Paulo title chase preview. In the LMGT3 class, Racing Team Turkey by TF took victory with Salih Yoluç, Peter Dempsey and Charlie Eastwood, edging Team WRT’s own second entry, a result covered alongside the wider São Paulo build-up on ReadMotorsport.
With BMW now boasting two Hypercar wins from the opening long-haul rounds of 2026, the result tightens the title picture heading into the next stop on the WEC calendar in the United States.
