One
of the most exciting new racing programmes to be
launched this year got underway
last weekend in Brazil as the Fiat-focused "Racing
Festival" kicked off in some style at the Autódromo de
Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro. The series' two main categories,
Trofeo Linea and Fórmula Future Fiat, provided exciting
racing and many thrills and spills as the new cars proved
well balanced and thus allowed pilots to show off their
skills. The idea of the Racing Festival is the brainchild of
Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa, supported by Fiat
Automóveis. Also involved are Banco Santander, Shell,
Pirelli, FPT Powertrain Technologies, Magneti Marelli
and Rodas Scorro, while the series is organised by RM
Racing Events.
In the exciting new Trofeo Linea, a one-make series focused
around a full racing version of the Fiat Linea sedan,
drivers Popó
Bueno and Ulisses Silva emerged with a win apiece from
the double-header format, the races held under a blazing
hot sky at the magical Jacarepaguá circuit. However it
was a Curitiba-based driver, André Bragantini, who takes
up the points lead of the championship after the first
round thanks to two second
places.
In race one Bueno's win was only assured in the final
laps after pole sitter and then race leader, Serafin Jr,
went off the track after suffering a left rear puncture.
Ricardo Maurício then lost second place due to
"unsporting behaviour". Later in the programme, Thiago Camilo, after an
incident with Cacá Bueno, also received a similar
punishment, docked 20 seconds. Bragantini wound up with
second place, just under two seconds off Bueno at the
flag, while the final podium step in the first-ever
Trofeo Linea encounter was claimed by Antonio
Jorge Neto, he was a further second back.
The second and final race of the weekend in the Trofeo
Linea championship was even more hectic. With the top-eight
finishers from race one reversed
on the grid for race two, Silva, who finished in eighth
place in the opening encounter was promoted to pole
position for the final race. Despite coming under
intense pressure, firstly from Giuliano Losacco and then in the closing stages from
José Córdova and Bragantini, Silva, who was the youngest
driver in the field at just 19 years of age, resisted
all the
pressure to claim his first win in the new series. The
result was in doubt right until the chequered flag as
the first five finishers streamed over the finish line
bunched tightly together. At the flag Bragantini was clocked at just
0.193 seconds back from the winner while Feldmann, who
collected third place, was less than half a second
adrift. At the end of the race Serafin Jr and José Vitte
collided on the pit straight with the former hitting a
tyre barrier and rolling the car. The Linea came to rest
with all four wheels in the air, but the driver was
uninjured.
Bueno did not hide his satisfaction at his victory.
"Winning here means a lot to me and I'm happy to have
contributed suggestions for the birth of this category.
It was a great idea of Felipe Massa's."
Silva acknowledged that the reversed grid and his
intimate
knowledge of the track was essential for a victory that
even he considered unlikely. "I really was not expecting
a win on Sunday, but of course it gives me great
satisfaction to get ahead of experienced drivers with
talent. It was not easy because my car was not the
fastest on the grid, but here is my home, and that
helped a lot."
Bragantini left Jacarepaguá at the top of the
points standings, and he was quick to praise the work of his team,
Full Time. "They did a great job and gave me a very good
car in both races. The Trofeo Linea has cars that get
very close and racing is always interesting. When I saw
that it was not possible to overcome Ulisses,
knowing he was protecting the position I decided to
use the same tactic and secure second place," he
explained. Bragantini has 26 championship points after
the first round and behind him in
second place, tied on 20 points each, comes Jorge Neto, who
took a strong third place in race one, and race one
winner, Bueno. Ulisses is
fourth on 18 points.
Alceu Feldmann, an experienced pilot who races in
Brazilian Stock Cars and the Brazilian GT3 Championship,
was a star addition to the grid. Thanks to the 20-second
time penalty handed out to Camilo, the pilot from
Curitiba secured the final spot on the podium. Feldmann
said the two races were quite enough for him to form an
opinion about the brand new Trofeo Linea compared to the
Stock Cars he usually races. "The cars are more
enjoyable to drive, are not so hot, and the category
will be successful," he enthused.
Meanwhile in the Fórmula Future Fiat, Francisco Alfaya
became the first driver to collect a win this single-seater
category with racing engines supplied by Fiat Powertrain
Technologies, which has as its main prize a place in the
youth development program that has recently been initiated by
Scuderia Ferrari, the "Ferrari Driver Academy". He won
race one with an advantage of just under a second over
Nicolas Costa with João Jardim two tenths further back
in third. Alfaya becomes the joint championship leader after
the first round, tied with Jardim on 24 points. Jardim
gets to share the top spot thanks to his consistency: he was on the
podium in both races with a second and third place
finish. Alfaya has the advantage though on a tie-break
thanks to his win. Just one point behind these two comes
Roberto Curia Jr in third place, the winner of race two,
while Costa, the runner-up in the first race, is fourth
on 20 points.
Trofeo Linea:
Results, Race 1:
1) Popó Bueno,
26min49.657s
2) André Bragantini, + 1.987s
3) Antonio Jorge Neto, + 2.798s
Results, Race 2:
1) Ulisses Silva,
27min05.016s
2) André Bragantini, + 0.193s
3) Alceu Feldmann, + 0.446s
Championship standings (after 1 round and 2 races):
1) André Bragantini - 26 points
2) Antonio Jorge Neto and Popó Bueno - 20
4) Ulisses Silva - 18
5) José Cordova - 14
6) Alceu Feldmann - 12
7) José Vitte - 8
8) Cacá Bueno and Leonardo Nienkotter - 6
10) Giuliano Losacco - 5
11) Ricardo Maurício - 2
12) Cesare Marucci - 1
Fórmula
Future Fiat:
Results, Race 1:
1) Francisco Alfaya,
25min51.328s
2) Nicolas Costa, + 0.982s
3) João Jardim, + 1.265s
Results, Race 2:
1) Roberto Curia Jr., 26min04.531s
2) João Jardim, + 2.275s
3) Jonathan Louis, + 7.980s
Championship standings
(after 1 round and 2 races):
1) Francisco Alfaya
and João Jardim - 24 points
3) Roberto Curia Jr. - 23
4) Nicolas Costa – 20
5) Johilton Pavlak – 18
6) Jonathan Louis - 14
7) Vinicius Alvarenga – 6
8) Felipes Apezzatto – 5
9) Rafael Azrak and Felipe Granzotto - 2
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