Kevin Magnussen landed a long-awaited FIA World Endurance Championship victory as the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT held off a hard-charging Ferrari to win the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo at Interlagos. Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor took the flag 2.2 seconds clear of the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse, delivering BMW's second Hypercar win of 2026 after the No. 20 car's breakthrough at Spa.
"The car was amazing, the BMW was the quickest car. Strategy, pit stops, everything was perfect," Magnussen said. "I'm so happy to finally get this victory. It's been a long time coming, but we're finally there."
BMW had to earn it. Marciello led early before James Calado muscled the No. 51 Ferrari ahead in the middle of the race, and for a spell it looked like AF Corse would convert its pace into the win. The decider was fuel: as the six hours wound down, the BMW could run close to 12 minutes longer than the Ferrari, handing Vanthoor a shorter final stop and track position he would not surrender. The Belgian brought the car home despite reporting over the radio that he was feeling unwell.
Cadillac's Hertz Team Jota had looked the outfit to beat on Saturday, with Will Stevens leading a front-row lockout, but the race unravelled. Stevens picked up a five-second penalty for contact with a GT car, and the No. 12 was further hampered by a slow stop and a flat-spotted set of tyres. Stevens, Norman Nato and Louis Deletraz salvaged third, 6.6s off the win, ahead of the sister No. 38 Cadillac of Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais and Jack Aitken.
The afternoon was a disaster for championship leader Toyota. Both GR010 Hybrids left Brazil with nothing, the No. 7 sliding to 12th with penalties and the No. 8 losing time to suspension damage. It is the kind of scoreless weekend that reshapes a title fight, and with BMW now winning on two very different circuits, the balance of the Hypercar season has shifted.
There was late drama and no little farce in the closing stages. Race control called four full-course yellows across the six hours, two of them to clear kites that had drifted onto the circuit from beyond the Interlagos fences. A final flashpoint came at the Senna Esses with 10 minutes to go, when Robin Frijns' BMW spun Antonio Fuoco's Ferrari as the pair scrapped over fifth, dropping the Italian machine to eighth.
In LMGT3, TF Sport's No. 34 Corvette Z06 won the class, Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood among a crew that timed its stint sequencing to perfection to beat the ASP Lexus and the WRT BMW M4.
The WEC now breaks until 5-7 September, when the championship crosses to Circuit of the Americas for the Lone Star Le Mans round — with Toyota's points cushion suddenly looking a lot less comfortable.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/magnussen-bmw-pips-ferrari-to-win-wec-6-hours-of-sao-paulo). Visit for full coverage.*