Photo: Luca Bassani
Brazilian Formula 4 headed to Interlagos for round two of the season, and with pre-event points leader Alvaro Cho absent it guaranteed a new name ended the weekend on top.
All three of the races had close fights from start to finish, and some impressive milestones were reached.
TMG Racing’s Rafaela Ferreira claimed both pole positions in Friday’s qualifying session and became the second woman in series history to qualify at the front as Bassani Racing Cecilia Rabelo did the same at Interlagos latst year.
Ferreira could not convert pole in race one (the 40th race since the series’ creation in 2022) into victory, but by finishing second behind Filippo Fiorentino (who replaced Cho at TMG) she became the first ever woman to lead the championship.
Fiorentino had got a better jump off line, and managed to overtake Ferreira and Matheus Comparatto. Lucca Zucchini then got past Comparatto to finish third, with the latter settling for fourth while racing with an alternative tyre strategy.
Ciro Sobral started at the head of the field on race two’s reversed grid, but Argentinian racer Gino Trappa had a better jump to take a lead which he never gave up to became the first ever foreigner to win a Brazilian F4 race. Comparatto made a accurate move when lights came out, jumping from fifth to third. He than advanced to second and started chasing his Bassani Racing team-mate.
But Trappa also had better tyre life and Comparatto could not risk his race, as second place was good enough to take the points lead. Ferreira had an early scramble with Zucchini, and both were forced to climb up the field. Cavaleiro Sports’ rookie Rogerio Grotta came home third, with Fiorentino and Ethan Nobels rounding out the top five.
Ferreira finished eighth after being penalised for the Zucchini incident and one with Nobels, but was back on pole for race three. Comparatto had a better jump from the front row though, passing her before turn one.
When Fiorentino tried to clear Ferreira at turn four, they made contact and he went into the barriers while she got a drive-through penalty.
There was a brief safety car period, and Comparatto held on to the lead after. Although Ferreira passed him a few laps later, he was back ahead once her penalty was served. Zucchini was penalised for jumping the restart, demoting him to last.
Comparatto won, with Nobels and Trappa completing the podium.
Results round-up
Race 1 (18 laps)
1 Filippo Fiorentino TMG Racing 32m51.846s
2 Rafaela Ferreira TMG Racing +0.308s
3 Lucca Zucchini Cavaleiro Sport +2.579s
4 Matheus Comparatto Bassani Racing +2.934s
5 Ethan Nobels Cavaleiro Sports +6.539s
6 Rogerio Grotta Cavaleiro Sports +12.254s
7 Genaro Trappa Bassani Racing +14.064s
8 Ciro Sobral TMG Racing +14.962s
9 Cecilia Rabelo Bassani Racing +15.631s
Ret Guilherme Favarete TMG Racing
Pole: Ferreira, 1m36.991s
Fastest lap: Ferreira, 1m37.122s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Trappa 22m47.625s
2 Comparatto +1.280s
3 Grotta +1.387s
4 Fiorentino +2.134s
5 Nobels +3.396s
6 Sobral +4.258s
7 Rabelo +11.368s
8 Ferreira +27.689s
9 Joao Pedro Souza Cavaleiro Sports +37.047s
10 Favarete +1 lap
FL: Ferreira, 1m37.729s
Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Comparatto 32m17.689s
2 Nobels +4.240s
3 Trappa +5.792s
4 Sobral +9.413s
5 Grotta +11.334s
6 Favarete +12.613s
7 Pedro Souza +14.310s
8 Rabelo +18.885s
9 Ferreira +31.375s
10 Zucchini +40.750s
P: Ferreira, 1m36.954s
FL: Comparatto, 1m38.036s
Championship standings
1 Comparatto 88 2 Nobels 60 3 Ferreira 60 4 Grotta 52 5 Trappa 51 6 Sobral 46 7 Zucchini 42 8 Alvaro Cho 40 9 Fiorentino 33 10 Rabelo 26