Charlie Eastwood has reasons for optimism as he chases victory in Brazilian leg of World Endurance Championship
Eastwood followed that up with a breakthrough victory in the European Le Mans Series at Sunday's Four Hours of Imola for the American manufacturer. It also ended a 19-month wait for him to record a first class win with Corvette following his switch to the squad from Aston Martin in late 2023.
'I have to say that I am really looking forward to getting back to the FIA World Endurance Championship — I think that we are finally on something of a good run in the competition, especially with our podium finish at Le Mans in June,' Eastwood told Belfast Telegraph Sport.
'Then, of course, I got my first win in a Corvette just last weekend — a performance that really gives us confidence as we head to Brazil; we are really optimistic about Sao Paulo.
'We are now up to sixth position in the Championship standings after the 24 Hours of Le Mans and hopefully we can keep pushing forward, and keep building on that.'
What could help the number eighty-one crews' efforts is extensive upgrade work to the anti-clockwise Interlagos Circuit, which is officially called Autodromo José Carlos Pace.
Another possible curveball ahead of Sunday's race — which gets under way at 3.30pm UK time — is the introduction of a new compound from WEC's official tyre supplier, Goodyear.
'The tyre is in response to the high degradation based on last year; it's a hard compound which we did some development work on before it was signed off,' explained Eastwood, 'but we are not fully aware of what tyre they finalised, so that is going to be a big change.
'The track's surface has also been completely resurfaced, so it's tricky to know how it will all pan out. But, like I said, the team is operating at a really high level, as are my two team-mates, so we will look to get up to speed quickly and hopefully get our first win in WEC.'
Eastwood, Andrade and Van Rompuy make up an 18-car field for the Six Hours of Sao Paulo, with Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, McLaren, Ford and Lexus all represented.
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