Photo: Luis Ferrari
Brazilian Formula 4 made a second visit to Autodromo Velo Citta for round four, and drivers were much closer to each other than in the inaugural round there in May.
Full Time Sports’ Pedro Clerot, Cavaleiro Sports’ Nicolas Giaffone and TMG Racing’s Lucas Staico took wins home, making it the first round with three different teams earning a victory.
As in the first visit to Velo Citta, Staico dominated qualifying, claiming poles for races one and three. Points leader Clerot made the front row for both races, with Vinicius Tessaro and Ricardo Gracia making it onto row two.
As the lights went out for race one, Clerot had a nicer getaway than Staico to pass him before turn one while Tessaro stalled and fell to last. Staico then ended up fourth after a turn one scuffle involving three cars. After a quick safety car intervention, the field was set with Clerot leading Luan Lopes and Gracia.
Clerot then managed to open a gap and take his sixth win of 2022, as Staico passed Gracia on lap 10 and then rose rose back to second with a penultimate lap pass on Lopes.
Giaffone started on reversed grid pole for race two, ahead of Felipe Barrichello Bartz and Fernando Barrichello who got the best start from third. He passed his cousin and tried a move on his other cousin Giaffone before turn one, but the poleman closed the door on him.
Barrichello, son of Rubens, then lost momentum and that allowed Barrichello Bartz to pass him back. The three finished in the same order as they started, making it a family celebration at the podium.
Staico finally made it stick from pole and led all laps in race three. Clerot tried to pose a challenge in the early laps, but could not match Staico’s pace in the second half of the race and had to make a huge effort to defend second place from Tessaro during the last three laps.
Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Pedro Clerot Full Time Sports 27m13.688s
2 Lucas Staico TMG Racing +7.885s
3 Luan Lopes KTF Sports +8.876s
4 Ricardo Gracia Full Time Sports +9.228s
5 Vinicius Tessaro Cavaleiro Sports +9.704s
6 Fernando Barrichello Full Time Sports +12.568s
7 Felipe Barrichello Bartz Cavaleiro Sports +13.730s
8 Nicolas Giaffone Cavaleiro Sports +18.320s
9 Aurelia Nobels TMG Racing +21.704s
10 Richard Annunziata KTF Sports +22.114s
Pole: Staico, 1m27.570s
Fastest lap: Clerot, 1m28.190s
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Giaffone 20m41.465s
2 Barrichello Bartz +9.824s
3 Barrichello +18.081s
4 Gracia +18.354s
5 Tessaro +21.180s
6 Lopes +24.105s
7 Staico +24.826s
8 Clerot +29.027s
9 Annunziata +30.763s
10 Nelson Neto Full Time Sports +33.611s
FL: Giaffone, 1m28.009s
Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Staico 27m50.894s
2 Clerot +1.649s
3 Tessaro +2.121s
4 Lopes +7.112s
5 Gracia +8.465s
6 Barrichello +16.045s
7 Annunziata +17.264s
8 Nobels +18.007s
9 Neto +19.172s
10 Barrichello Bartz +23.429s
P: Staico, 1m27.356s
FL: Clerot, 1m27.361s
Championship standings
1 Clerot 224 2 Staico 147 3 Tessaro 105 4 Giaffone 83 5 Barrichello 82 6 Gracia 82 7 Nicholas Monteiro 74 8 Lopes 66 9 Barrichello Bartz 50 10 Annunziata 35