Império Endurance Brasil

Império Endurance Brasil, formely known as Dopamina Endurance Series, is the current format of the Brazilian Endurance Championship. With races all around the country, the championship mixes locally built prototypes with all sorts of Touring and Gran Touring cars, also having a “Formula Libre” class where all competitors fight for the Brazilian Endurance Champion title.

History

Brazil has a long history on Endurance racing, with race many traditional races like: Brazilian Mille Miglia (since 1956), 12 Hours of Tarumã (since 1965), 500 Kilometers of São Paulo (since 1957) and 500 Miles of Londrina (since 1992), among others, however a national championship was always somewhat perennial initiative, with lots of comings and goings across the last decades. Between 2012 and 2014, Brazilian motorsport suffered a lot of heavy blows, with many categories folding in this short period of time:

• Top Series (2012)

• Trofeo Linea (2012)

• GT3 Brasil (2013);

• Spyder Race (2014);

With all these championships ending, many teams were left with cars but nowhere to run them, however on a regional lever, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazilian southernmost state) had a very well established Endurance Championship. Dating back to the 90’s, the Campeonato Gáucho de Endurance soon presented itself as an option to all these racers, and by the end of 2014 the APE (Associação de Pilotos de Endurance – Endurance Drivers Association) was formed, aimed at managing and promoting the category, that by then still had regional status.

Another key point in the history of the category was 2017, when it ascended to be a national level competition, and at the same time, the organizers struck a branding deal with Cervejaria Cidade Imperial, through the Dopamina energy drink brand. Thus the championship was branded as Campeonato Brasileiro Dopamina Endurance Series, and with the additional money the YouTube and Facebook live streaming was greatly improved, facilitating fans to support the category. This year marked by the debut of two cars that would represent the arrival of a new era to the category: the Porsche 911 GT3 R #20 from Stuttgart Porsche and the Metalmoro AJR #28 from JLM Racing

The 2018 season represented na expansion to the category, with new cars joining the series, specially three new GT3 (2 Mercedes AMG GT3 and a Lamborghini Huracàn GT3), and 5 new P1 prototypes (4 AJRs and the Sigma P1), as well as other newcomers to various categories. For 2019, Cervejaria Cidade Imperial reinforced its support to the Endurance Brasil series by acquiring the naming rights, with a new logo being developed and the category now rebranded as Império Endurance Brasil. The 2019 season can be considered one of affirmation for the category, with the arrival of new imported cars (Ginetta G57 P2, Ferrari 488 GT3, Ginetta G55 GT4 and Mercedes AMG GT4) and local prototypes (3 new AJRs, the DTR01, a renewed Sigma P1 and the Roco 001), as well as the presence of many Brazilian top drivers like: Daniel Serra, David Muffato, Geciel de Andrade, José Roberto Ribeiro, Júlio Campos, Marcos Gomes, Ricardo Maurício, Tarso Marques and many others with different backgrounds both locally and internationally.

Classes

Throught time, Enduran Brasil has had diferente class structures. The rulebook for 2020 has yet to be published, however the 2019 season presented the following class structure:

Prototypes:

P1: the premier class in Endurance Brasil, P1 is open to cars like the Ginetta G57/G58, ACO LMP3 homologated cars and Brazilian built prototypes with large displacement NA engines or turbocharged engines.

P2: this category was introduce in 2019 as a “legacy” category for prototypes built to the P1 regulations in place until 2018, and limited to cars built prior to that.

P3: category for prototypes with NA engines up to 2.400 cm³ if from automotive origin, or 1.507 cm³ if using the engine/transmission system of motorbikes.

P4: entry-level category for prototypes with engine up to 2.400 cm³ NA engines, with a maximum of 8 valves (thus allowing only 4 cylinder engines with 2-valve per cylinder heads).

One highlight is that, for the locally built prototypes there are few limitations besides safety determinations, weight and fuel tank capacity that vary based on engine displacement and some cost cutting measures, like the prohibition to use more expensive engines like those used on LMP1 and LMP2 cars. For LMP3 cars, intake restrictors are not required.

Gran Touring:

GT3: class for cars classified under the GT3 homologation of FIA and SRO, built after 2012, balanced only by weight (no intake restrictors or other limitations enforced by SRO BoP).

GT3 Light: class for older GT3 machines, built prior to 2012. Just like the GT3 class cars, performance balance is done with minimum weight.

GT4: class for SRO/FIA GT4 machines, with FIA BoP. Also there is a BMW M3 GTR from Eurobike and runned by MC Tubarão.

GT4 Light: entry-level class for touring/grand touring cars, which allows for a wide variety of cars like:

• Brazilian Stock Cars or cars based on the frame of one;

• Ferrari 430 Challenge;

• Mercedes CLA AMG Cup;

• cars from the former Brazilian Touring Car Championship;

• Audi R8 and Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 built prior to 2008;

• Maserati Trofeo Light;

• TCR cars;

• cars from the former Trofeo Linea.

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