Photo: Hernan Capa
Brazilian Formula 4 held its first ever international round at Buenos Aires in Argentina last weekend.
For the fifth time in five rounds this season there were three different winners: Arthur Pavie and Rafaela Ferreira won the first two first races on Friday and Saturday, and Ethan Nobels was victorious on Sunday.
The championship lead, however, remains in the hands of Bassani Racing’s Matheus Comparatto who on 198 points is 16 ahead of TMG Racing’s Alvaro Cho.
On Friday, TMG’s Pavie and Cavaleiro Sports’ Nobels held a tight fight in qualifying. Pavie secured pole position for race one, and Nobels did the same for race three.
Nobels set a 1m39.941s, just 0.016 seconds faster than Pavie, and on the second-best laptimes Pavie pipped Nobels by 0.172s. He converted his race one pole into a lights-to-flag victory, his second consecutive win.
Alceu Feldmann Neto, who ahead of the weekend had switched from Bassani to Cavaleiro, had reversed-grid pole for race two which was the 50th race in Brazilian F4 history.
He lost the lead to TMG’s Ferreira before reaching the first corner, and she opened up a comfortable lead even before a late safety car deployment and won the race, with Rogerio Grotta in second and Ciro Sobral in third.
Nobels led from start to finish in race three, finishing more than nine seconds ahead of Ferreira. Cho completed the podium, and points leader Comparatto was only eighth.
The next round of Brazilian F4 will be at Interlagos on November 2/3 and support Formula 1’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Results round-up
Race 1 (19 laps)
1 Arthur Pavie TMG Racing 31m47.488s
2 Ethan Nobels Cavaleiro Sports +8.191s
3 Matheus Comparatto Bassani Racing +11.909s
4 Alvaro Cho TMG Racing +16.636s
5 Ciro Sobral TMG Racing +18.857s
6 Rogerio Grotta Cavaleiro Sports +21.861s
7 Rafaela Ferreira TMG Racing +45.013s
8 Alceu Feldmann Neto Cavaleiro Sports +47.423s
9 Cecilia Rabelo Bassani Racing +1m06.543s
10 Pepe Souza Cavaleiro Sport +1m08.718s
Pole: Pavie, 1m39.941s
Fastest lap: Pavie, 1m40.084s
Race 2 (9 laps)
1 Ferreira 20m21.016s
2 Grotta +0.516s
3 Sobral +0.920s
4 Cho +1.798s
5 Gino Trappa Bassani Racing +2.451s
6 Feldmann Neto +2.805s
7 Lucca Zucchini Cavaleiro Sports +3.390s
8 Joao Pedro Souza Cavaleiro Sports +4.364s
9 Nobels +5.062s
10 Comparatto +2 laps
FL: Grotta, 1:41.307s
Race 3 (19 laps)
1 Nobels 32m01.463s
2 Ferreira +9.067s
3 Cho +9.886s
4 Grotta +10.275s
5 Souza +17.501s
6 Rabelo +19.285s
7 Zucchini +25.198s
8 Comparatto +31.827s
9 Sobral +36.332s
10 Feldmann Neto (Bassani Racing) +42.550s
P: Nobels, 1m39.743s
FL: Trappa, 1:40.006s
Championship standings
1 Comparatto 194 2 Cho 178 3 Nobels 162 4 Ferreira 148 5 Sobral 104 6 Trappa 102 7 Pavie 101 8 Grotta 94 9 Zucchini 82 10 Favarete 44