TF Sport Corvette cruises to LMGT3 victory in Sao Paulo
July 15, 2026
Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette Z06 stormed to LMGT3 victory at the WEC Sao Paulo 6 Hours after a faultless run from Salih Yoluc, Peter Dempsey and Charlie Eastwood.
The team’s strategy of putting its Silver-rated driver, Yoluc, in for the start and saving the middle stint for Dempsey paid off handsomely, allowing Eastwood to bring the car home despite surviving a slow puncture late in the race.
“In the battle with Harper, we got the puncture,” Eastwood revealed post-race. “So we had a sort of 20-minute window over the guys to sort of short-fuel and then try and manage it to the end.
“Luckily, the valve basically bent inward, and we didn’t actually completely deflate the tire. But that meant we had to stop before the BMW, so all of a sudden we went from thinking we were very comfortable to having a sort of push on.”
Despite the puncture scare, Eastwood managed the gap to the BMW behind in the closing stages, and the No. 34 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R crossed the line 8.108 seconds ahead of the No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo, driven by Dan Harper, which finished second in class.
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The two Manthey Porsches secured third and fourth in class, the No. 92 The Bend entry leading the No. 91 DK Engineering 911.
The No. 88 Proton Ford Mustang faded on a fuel-save run in the closing stages to finish fifth after a spirited charge from Logan Sargeant, with the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG completing the top six.
Pole sitting No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin was not a factor in the race, with Gray Newell losing the lead at the start, dropping to seventh, suffering a spin in the second hour, and then sustaining diffuser damage from contact with the No. 83 Ferrari, ultimately finishing dead last in class.
The No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren, which had starred at Imola and Spa, was also anonymous in São Paulo, losing a lap when the team was forced to replace a wing mirror that was knocked off in contact.
The LMGT3 race had a significant impact on the championship standings with the sister No. 33 TF Sport Corvette finishing eighth, which means Jonny Edgar, the car’s only full-season driver, now stands alone in the championship lead by four points.
