Lourenço Beirão and Gabriel Casagrande were the quickest in the Qualifying sessions that determined the grid for NASCAR Brasil’s two races at the Goiânia oval.
While the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series contingent starts their season at Valencia this weekend, on the other side of the world NASCAR Brasil Series is back on track for their second race of the season at the oval layout of Goiânia’s Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna.
The 1.6-mile long oval will host two races for the weekend and it will be Lourenço Beirão and Gabriel Casagrande that start from pole position in Races 1 and 2 respectively.
Beirão, who now joins Rafa Dias in the No. 45 Ford Mustang entered by Maxon Racing after Campo Grande teammate Jeff Giassi went solo, set a time of 57.448 in the first ten-minute long Qualifying session to claim his first pole position of the year.
Witold Ramasaukas joined him on the front row, 0.137 seconds slower than the Portuguese driver. Alex Seid is third followed by Jorge Martelli, fastest in the Challenger class.
The oval brought out the surprises as drivers such as Brendon Zonta were able to take advantage of the unusual circuit to perform strongly. Zonta, the younger brother of ex-F1 driver Ricardo, qualified eighth ahead of big names such as Vitor Genz and Campo Grande winner Léonardo Reis.
A second session then followed, with the fastest six drivers in combined times advancing to the Superpole that determined pole for Race 2. This second session was led by Reis, whose time of 57.319 seconds guaranteed him a spot in the shootout.
As expected, the drivers were able to set quicker times in the second session as more rubber was laid down to the track. Ramasaukas, Casagrande, Antonio Junqueira, Martelli and Alexandre Kaue followed Reis in the timesheets and they all would make up the field for the Superpole.
In the Superpole, all six elected to stay in a drafting pack. Understanding that maintaining the draft is the key, they drove as if they were racing in the five-minute shootout for the pole award.
Ultimately, Casagrande in the No. 83 Militec1/Axalta Chevrolet came out on top with a blisteringly quick lap time of 57.097 seconds. Martelli completed his Challenger class sweep across all sessions with a front-row start, 0.333 seconds slower than Casagrande.
Ramasaukas was third ahead of Reis with Junqueira and Kaue completed the running order for the Superpole.
The races for NASCAR Brasil Series in 2024, including the ones at Goiânia oval, will be broadcast live on the series’ official YouTube channel.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.