Photo: Victor Eleuterio
Vinicius Tessaro won the opening race of Brazilian Formula 4’s season finale at Interlagos, and followed it up by clinching the 2023 title with a race to spare.
In his second year with Cavaleiro Sports, the driver from Formosa (Goias) sat at the top of the points table from the opening round onwards and won six times, matching the number the inaugural champion Pedro Clerot reached last year.
Tessaro’s 232 points were also key to Cavaleiro Sports winning a teams’ title for the first time in the organisation’s history in motorsport.
Although Tessaro was third on the grid for race one, he took advantage of front-row man Matheus Comparatto – his closest championship rival coming into the weekend – stalling to follow poleman Luan Lopes through the opening laps.
He got ahead of Lopes by executing a move on the outside of the Senna ‘S’, then built a lead that was almost five seconds by the finish. Fernando Barrichello. Alvaro Cho and Nelson Neto rounded out the top five, as Comparatto tried to manage his damage control after falling to the back of the grid to finish sixth.
Cavaleiro’s series sophomore Lucca Zucchini started at the front of race two’s reversed grid, ahead of Rafaela Ferreira, and led the entire race to take his first win.
Alvaro Cho had a remarkable start from fifth, and managed to challenge Zucchini for victory. Ferreira droped to fourth after a move by Comparatto, but with a clever pass got him back on a restart and took the checkered flag in third, becoming the first woman to make the overall podium and to win the rookie classification in Brazilian F4’s two seasons.
Tessaro clinched the title with drama, as he was watching from the garage. His team-mate Cecilia Rabelo had missed a braking point and made contact with his car, forcing him to retire with broken rear suspension. Their other team-mate Nelson Neto was also collected in the incident, and Rabelo was later shown the black flag.
Nevertheless, as Comparatto had to win with the fastest lap to keep the title fight going and he only finished fourth, it meant Tessaro’s points lead was insurmountable and Cavaleiro won the teams’ title early too.
Comparatto at least secured his status as the season’s top rookie and he bounced back in race three, turning pole into his fourth win.
Barrichello took home another podium finish in second, after passing Lopes at Curva do Laranjinha. Cho and Tessaro finished fourth and fifth.
After two years racing in his homeland, Tessaro now is determined to compete abroad. His management team are considering junior series in Europe or the USA for 2024.
As for Brazilian F4’s third season, promoter entity Vicar has announced eight three-race rounds, two more than the first two seasons, with one of the calendar additions being an Argentinian event at Buenos Aires. The series will once again support Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Vinicius Tessaro Cavaleiro Sports 28m07.443s
2 Luan Lopes TMG Racing +4.886s
3 Fernando Barrichello Cavaleiro Sports +7.490s
4 Alvaro Cho TMG Racing +8.369s
5 Nelson Neto Cavaleiro Sports +11.185s
6 Matheus Comparatto Bassani Racing +11.813s
7 Rafaela Ferreira TMG Racing +18.214s
8 Lucca Zucchini Cavaleiro Sports +20.280s
9 Alexandre Machado Bassani Racing +34.647s
10 Cecilia Rabelo Cavaleiro Sports +40.129s
Pole: Lopes, 1m38.197s
Fastest lap: Tessaro, 1m38.698s
Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Zucchini 19m52.115s
2 Cho +0.541s
3 Ferreira +3.364s
4 Comparatto +5.227s
5 Joao Tesser TMG Racing +5.901s
6 Arthur Pavie Bassani Racing +8.475s
7 Lopes +9.148s
8 Machado +14.503s
9 Barrichello +15.156s
Ret Tessaro
FL: Cho, 1m38.869s
Race 3 (17 laps)
1 Comparatto 28m17.323s
2 Barrichello +0.567s
3 Lopes +2.848s
4 Cho +4.809s
5 Tessaro +8.752s
6 Neto +12.131s
7 Tesser +12.500ss
8 Machado +13.418s
9 Zucchini +14.750s
10 Pavie +16.190s
P: Comparatto, 1m38.127s
FL: Barrichello, 1m39.314s
Championship standings
1 Tessaro 233 2 Comparatto 214 3 Cho 206 4 Lopes 180 5 Barrichello 140 6 Neto 118 7 Zucchini 105 8 Tesser 79 9 Matheus Callejas 61 10 Pavie 58