Photo: Brazilian F4
Heitor Dall’Agnol grew his Brazilian Formula 4 lead in back-to-back rounds at Autodromo Velo Citta.
The first, postponed from June 27-29 to September 26-28, was Dall’Agnol’s first winless event but he was top scorer.
He was fourth in practice, with Alceu Feldmann Neto topping both sessions and leading Ethan Nobels by 0.816 seconds.
In sixth was Pedro Lima, 1.133s off the pace, but in qualifying he set the weekend’s fastest two laps. His best effort, a 1m26.25s, earned him race three pole by 0.118s over Dall’Agnol, with Pedro Lins a further 0.046s back and Feldmann 0.189s off pole in fourth. Half a second split the top 10, and there was less than a second between first and last.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes set race one’s grid, and a 1m26.29s earned Lima pole by 0.173s over Dall’Agnol. Lins was 0.223s off in third.
There were two stallers in race one, and Lima started so slowly he dropped to ninth. Dall’Agnol streaked into the lead, as Filippo Fiorentino leapt from sixth to second and Feldmann climbed two spots to third but then had a queue of cars behind.
Lins pressured him continually, and on lap eight when finally attempting a move there was contact and he spun. He continued in 12th, at which point Lima had recovered to seventh.
Lima began lap nine pushing Rogerio Grotta down the pit straight before passing, then gained another spot as Dall’Agnol served a drive-through penalty for being out of position on the grid and fell to 11th.
Fiorentino inherited the lead, which grew to 13.678s as Feldmann locked up most laps under pressure but did not concede second. Murilo Rocha began attacking him on lap 11, and when Ciro Sobral went off on lap 12 when trying to join in it put Lima into fourth. Lins’ own recovery drive ended on lap 16 of 22 as Cadi Baptista locked up ahead and he broke his front wing driving over the back of his car.
Lima joined Rocha in pressuring Feldmann from lap 17 onwards, and when he dived past Rocha around the outside on lap 20 it allowed Feldmann to get a gap. Rocha then had to work hard to fend off Dall’Agnol and Pietro Mesquita, before reclaiming third when Lima was penalised 20s for a false start.
Lins and Lima started 13th and 15th for the reversed-grid race two, with Grotta on pole. Sobral started third and tried attacking Grotta at the start, unsuccessfully, then later went for a diving move on Renzo Barbuy for second but that also failed.
Grotta sprinted off and won by 6.082s, with second place changing hands on lap 11 of 15 as Barbuy put a wheel on the grass then went off when he reached the next corner and after rejoining dropped to seventh.
Sobral and Dall’Agnol inherited second and third, with Celo Hahn fourth after passing Mesquita a few laps earlier. Christian Helou was next to pressure Mesquita, and finally made a move stick on the last lap. Nobels followed him through a few corners later.
Lima led race three lights-to-flag, initially building a 1.65s lead before Dall’Agnol closed back in. On lap 17 of 22 he was onto Lima’s tail, and tried passing on the outside of turn one on lap 20 after Lima defended. He got alongside again approaching the chequered flag, finishing 0.053s behind.
Feldmann lost third mid-race, dropping behind Rocha, Fiorentino and Mesquita. He attempted getting back past Mesquita on lap 14, which brought Nobels onto their tail, and on lap 15 had a go at turn one then nailed a pass into the downhill section. However he later spun there on lap 20.
Lins passed Mesquita for what would become sixth, with the latter later retiring with a puncture. That brought Feldmann back up to eighth, behind Enricco Abreu and far ahead of the continuous squabbles for the lower positions.
In round four last weekend, Feldmann led Lima in practice then Fiorentino topped qualifying. A 1m26.417s earned him race three pole by 0.047s over Dall’Agnol, with Lins 0.085s off pole. Lima and Rocha were within 0.2s of Fiorentino, with half a second covering the top 10.
On second-best laptimes, a 1m26.476s put Dall’Agnol on race one pole by 0.042s. Fiorentino, Lins and Lima were all within 0.087s of him, and Rocha pipped Nobels to fifth by 0.007s.
There was drama on race one’s opening lap as Helou made a lunge on Hahn that led to him riding some kerbs, spinning Hahn, riding the rear of his car, retiring, then being disqualified.
The safety car was summoned, and after the lap three restart Dall’Agnol gradually pulled away to win by 3.758s. Fiorentino was initially under pressure for second, and was warned for changing direction under braking, but was able to shake off Lins and Lima late on.
Feldman was seventh until an off and then a spin on lap five, then spun again on lap 16 of 21. Grotta benefitted to move up to eighth, but on lap 20 lost the place to a switchback move at turn one from Baptista. Barbuy divebombed him there on the last lap, but went off and dropped to 11th.
Abreu took the lead from reversed-grid poleman Baptista off the line in race two, then covered the outside and Baptista drove back past into turn one. Nobels and Lima got through a few corners later.
The safety car appeared on lap five due to Barbuy being spun out on the pit straight by Mesquita, who was disqualified, and Lins spun out of fifth when the field returned to racing speeds. After the restart, Grotta was disqualified for moving across on Helou and crashing him out, and Baptista cruised to victory.
Lima passed Nobels on the restart lap, Rocha cleared him on lap 11 and Abreu did on lap 13. At the end of that lap, Rocha saw a gap and got on the inside of Lima for second.
Lins went down the inside of Fiorentino for the lead into the opening corner of race three, but it left room for Dall’Agnol to go inside of both on the exit and move ahead. Lima also overtook Fiorentino, then the top three spread out.
Fiorentino was left fending off Feldmann and Nobels through the race’s second half, and Feldmann’s failed passing attempt on the penultimate lap gave Nobels a chance to snatch fifth.
Results round-up
Round 3 race 1 (22 laps)
1 Filippo Fiorentino TMG Racing 32m14.659s
2 Alceu Feldmann Neto Cavaleiro Sports +13.678s
3 Murilo Rocha Bassani Racing +17.790s
4 Heitor Dall’Agnol TMG Racing +18.015s
5 Pietro Mesquita TMG Racing +18.339s
6 Ciro Sobral TMG Racing +19.210s
7 Renzo Barbuy Bassani Racing +20.640s
8 Rogerio Grotta Cavaleiro Sports +24.276s
9 Celo Hahn TMG Racing +26.713s
10 Cadi Baptista TMG Racing +27.697s
Pole: Pedro Lima, 1m26.290s
Fastest lap: Dall’Agnol, 1m26.691s
Round 3 race 2 (15 laps)
1 Grotta 22m04.983s
2 Sobral +6.082s
3 Dall’Agnol +10.673s
4 Hahn +12.454s
5 Christian Helou Bassani Racing +19.896s
6 Ethan Nobels Cavaleiro Sports +20.842s
7 Mesquita +21.572s
8 Fiorentino +27.034s
9 Enricco Abreu Cavaleiro Sports +33.074s
10 Rocha +35.526s
FL: Grotta, 1m27.065s
Round 3 race 3 (22 laps)
1 Pedro Lima Bassani Racing 32m17.296s
3 Dall’Agnol +0.053s
3 Rocha +2.127s
4 Fiorentino +13.201s
5 Nobels +14.222s
6 Pedro Lins Bassani Racing +16.060s
7 Abreu +19.428s
8 Feldmann +24.286s
9 Baptista +45.013s
10 Grotta +58.114s
P: Lima, 1m26.250s
FL: Lima, 1m27.003s
Round 4 race 1 (21 laps)
1 Dall’Agnol 31m54.332s
2 Fiorentino +3.758s
3 Lins +4.814s
4 Lima +5.300s
5 Rocha +7.958s
6 Nobels +10.228s
7 Abreu +14.230s
8 Baptista +20.383s
9 Grotta +22.591s
10 Sobral +22.873s
P: Dall’Agnol, 1m26.476s
FL: Dall’Agnol, 1m26.497s
Round 4 race 2 (14 laps)
1 Baptista 22m17.286s
2 Rocha +2.551s
3 Lima +5.064s
4 Abreu +5.314s
5 Nobels +5.810s
6 Fiorentino +6.677s
7 Dall’Agnol +7.279s
8 Hahn +14.514s
9 Feldmann +18.360s
Ret Helou
FL: Rocha, 1m27.112s
Round 4 race 3 (22 laps)
1 Dall’Agnol 32m08.612s
3 Lins +6.277s
3 Lima +11.668s
4 Fiorentino +13.957s
5 Nobels +14.019s
6 Feldmann +14.361s
7 Abreu +18.418s
8 Rocha +22.240s
9 Sobral +23.606s
10 Helou +26.806s
P: Fiorentino, 1m26.417s
FL: Dall’Agnol, 1m26.886s
Championship standings
1 Dall’Agnol 199 2 Fiorentino 120 3 Rocha 116 4 Lima 110 5 Lins 86 6 Nobels 85 7 Mesquita 62 8 Sobral 61 9 Feldmann 56 10 Grotta 54