Cayan Chianca took an emotional first NASCAR Brazil victory in the twilight #NightChallenge race at Londrina that he dedicated to the people of Rio Grande do Sul.
NASCAR Brasil Series’ third round of the 2024 season at Londrina’s Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna crowned another first time winner in Cayan Chianca, who scored his maiden overall victory in the round’s #NightChallenge race.
It was a highly emotional victory for Chianca because Rio Grande do Sul, the state where he currently resides, is experiencing one of the largest disasters in recent years: Brazil’s worst flood in more than 80 years.
NASCAR Brazil is supporting the affected area with four supply trucks full of humanitarian aid. Chianca, along with the rest of the NASCAR Brazil family, also encouraged everyone to support humanitarian causes that are working hard to help the people at Rio Grande do Sul.
One way to support is through the fundraiser program #CorrendoPeloRS, organized by NASCAR Brazil’s top championship contender Vitor Genz. As of the writing of this article, it has successfully raised more than R$10,000 out of the targeted R$20,000 (approximately US$3,886).
World of EuroNASCAR is pledging its support towards #CorrendoPeloRS and has made a donation to the cause. If you feel compelled to make a donation as well, you can do so via the link that is provided in here.
Race 1 Recap
Campo Grande winner Léonardo Reis led the field to the green flag for the first race of the Londrina weekend after securing pole position in the first Qualifying session. Only 21 cars raced because Marco Garcia opted to withdraw despite taking part in the Friday Practice.
Guilherme Backes’ race was thrown into a disarray almost immediately after he got spun around by Goiânia winner Jorge Martelli at Turn 2. Martelli was blameless for the incident as he got pushed to the grass by the returning Léo Torres, leaving him unable to prevent a collision with his class rival.
Fortunately for Backes, there were two separate incidents that forced a Safety Car period. The first happened in Turn 6 where Gabryel Romano crashed into the tire barriers, mirroring the same mistake that he had made in Qualifying.
Moments later, the No. 39 Gás Verde Chevrolet driven by its CEO Marcel Jorand stopped on the side of the track due to a mechanical failure.
The race went back to green on lap 3 with Reis retaining his lead. No one would have the pace to match Reis’ No. 32 Cleveland Cavaliers Ford Mustang as he led the remainder of the race and won his second race of the year.
Genz and Sergio Ramalho enjoyed a fantastic battle for second that was won by Genz, the Porto Alegr-born driver. Witold Ramasauskas and Valdeno Brito completed the top-5 ahead of Torres and Felipinho Tozzo, who took the win in the Challenger division.
Luan Lopes was eighth and well ahead of Leonardo Yoshii, who was retroactively classified to ninth overall and second in his class.
Yoshii’s No. 78 Yticon Ford Mustang had a transponder issue that led him to be erroneously classified three laps down in the original results. Fortunately, the president of his family business Grupo A.Yoshii was promoted back after timekeepers discovered the problems in his machine.
Victor Andrade rounded out the Challenger podium in tenth overall ahead of Backes, recovering seven places from his first lap kerfuffle.
There were four additional retirements, all caused by mechanical gremlins: 2023’s third-place finisher Alex Seid, Chianca, Maxon Racing’s owner Edson Reis and eNASCAR iRacing International Series winner Jeff Giassi.
Race 2 Recap
After a heartfelt pre-race programme that was dedicated to the people at Rio Grande do Sul, all 21 cars started the headliner #NightChallenge race that was run on twilight conditions.
An incident on the opening lap saw Race 1 winner Reis getting turned around by Beto Monteiro at Turn 2, starting a chain reaction that led to Monteiro receiving the wrath of Giassi.
Presumably due to the damage on his No. 88 Chevrolet reaching terminal conditions, Monteiro started to block other drivers excessively on lap 4. Torres managed to force his way through on the grass, but Giassi had to brake check Monteiro several times.
This angered Giassi, who retaliated by spinning Monteiro out on turn 4. The contact forced both drivers to retire, but tempers continued to flare as Giassi ran into Monteiro’s car to express his anger in the pits.
The same lap also saw Chianca make the decisive overtake on pole sitter and Superpole winner Genz at Turn 9.
Genz and Gabriel Casagrande trailed the driver of the No. 4 Odontoprev/Perfect Automotive Ford for lap after lap, but there’s nothing that was able to stop Chianca from taking the checkered flag for the first time.
“Thank God everything worked out!” said Chianca to nascarbrasil.com. “We had a few problems, but we were able to hold on until the end and secure the win.”
The race went caution free, making it the first race of the 2024 season where there weren’t any interruptions by the Safety Car.
Casagrande managed to keep his gap close to Chianca, but Genz lost steam towards the end of the race. He narrowly kept his podium position from Reis, who completed a stunning charge back to fourth place.
Torres, Mendes, Ramasauskas, and Rafael Dias all ran a solid race to fill the top-8 positions. Martelli bounced back from his Race 1 issues to take his third Challenger win in ninth place.
Tozzo and Backes completed the Challenger podium in tenth and eleventh respectively.
Championship Standings
In the top NASCAR Brasil division, Reis extended his championship lead by the slimmest of margins. With 116 points, Reis gained an additional point from Genz, who hauled a lot of points from his podiums and Superpole success.
The pairing of Casagrande and Seid are trailing by 12 points in third place. They are well ahead of Lourenço Beirão and Rafael Dias, who found themselves with the same amount of points despite starting their season on different teams.
Beirão is classified ahead of his new teammate because the Portuguese driver had an additional second place finish from his time with Giassi.
The duo of Sérgio Ramalho and Lucas Mendes, Chianca, Ramasauskas, Torres and Giassi completed the top-10 positions in the standings.
Martelli also retained his championship lead thanks to his class victory in Race 2. Martelli currently holds a 14 point advantage over Backes with Andrade another four points behind in third.
Luís Trombini was fourth, 31 points behind the driver of the No. 87 Chevrolet. Tozzo’s near-sweep allowed him to move up to fifth with 63 points, just one behind Trombini.
Yoshii, Romano, Giovani Girotto, Nick Monteiro and the pair of Brendon Zonta and Alexandre Kauê rounded out the top-10.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.