Familiar faces returned to the top in NASCAR Brasil Series’ fourth round with Léonardo Reis, Cayan Chianca and Gabriel Casagrande all taking one win each at Autódromo Potenza.
The #InverseRace round of the 2024 NASCAR Brasil Series saw three winners being crowned at Autódromo Potenza. Championship leader Léonardo Reis clinched the victory in the Sprint Race, while Cayan Chianca and Gabriel Casagrande grabbed the checkered flag in the two main races.
The Autódromo Potenza in Lima Duarte was selected by NASCAR Brasil as the replacement for Santa Cruz do Sul, which became unavailable to host the series due to the massive flooding that Rio Grande do Sul had last month.
Qualifying & Sprint Race Recap
NASCAR Brasil’s unique stipulations was at its largest extent with the #InverseRace as the round featured three gimmicks. The first involved Qualifying, which only featured one session – instead of two – and awarded drivers with full championship points for their divisions.
Despite Potenza being a last-minute addition, the drivers managed to get past the 15-minute session with little issues. Felipinho Tozzo’s spin on his final flying lap attempt was the only notable incident to note in Qualifying.
Reis, who carried a new sponsorship from telecommunication company Surf Telecom on his No. 32 Ford Mustang, clocked the fastest lap time with a time of 1:35.244.
Reis, Chianca, Casagrande, Valdeno Brito, Caca Bueno and Sergio Ramalho were qualified for the Sprint Race, the second of the #InverseRace gimmicks. As the name suggests, it involved a short five-lap race to determine the top-6 grid for both races.
Reis lost his lead to Brito in the early laps, but took the lead back on lap 3. The 20-year old held his lead from both Brito and Chianca in the last two laps to win the Sprint, a result that gave him the full 25 championship points.
Brito eventually beat Chianca for second with Casagrande, Lucas Mendes and Bueno completing the top-6.
Mechanical issues eliminated Bueno on the opening lap, but the former five-time Stock Car Pro Series champion will start Race 1 from pole position due to the inverse grid stipulation – the main gimmick for #InverseRace.
Because no drivers from the Challenge division made it to the Sprint, Qualifying results were used to hand out the championship points.
Guilherme Backes was crowned as the winner with a seventh place Qualifying effort. The returning Rodrigo Sperafico aided division leader Jorge Martelli to second ahead of Tozzo, whose time was enough for third in class.
Race 1 Recap
Bueno led a field of 23 cars to the green flag for Race 1 on Sunday morning. While there were some opening lap spins for both Marcel Jorand and Luan Lopes, the Safety Car had to be called on lap 2 after Thiago Lopes got himself beached on the gravel trap.
The race was restarted on lap 6 with Bueno leading at the first corner. However, Londrina winner Chianca charged his way up to the front and got past the 49-year old at Turn 13.
Chianca soon broke away from the field with Reis hot on his tails, mirroring the situation from Race 2 at Londrina.
Just like Londrina, Chianca’s pace was unmatched and the Rio Grande do Sul resident cruised to a back-to-back victory with the No. 4 Odontoprev/Perfect Automotive Ford.
Mendes converted his front-row start to an overall podium finish, his first of the season. Brito and Alex Seid banged doors on their way to a top-5 finish with Witold Ramasauskas, Rafael Dias, Bueno and Lopes finishing not far behind them.
Vitor Genz’s championship hopes received a huge dent after he took the checkered flag in 13th overall, putting him just tenth in class.
The Challenge division was won by Nick Monteiro, who was assigned to drive the No. 1 Mais 1 Café Ford that MC Gui raced earlier in the season. He finished 2.4 seconds ahead of Tozzo and Victor Andrade, both completing the podium in the lower class.
Class leader Martelli was not so fortunate. Sperafico, who was behind the wheel of Martelli’s No. 87 Ellix/Ferticel Chevrolet, lost a lot of time after he got spun by Leonardo Yoshii at the restart.
Sperafico went on to finish 16th overall and sixth in class, while Yoshii received a drive-through penalty for his transgressions.
Race 2 Recap
The inverse grid stipulation gave Ramasauskas the chance to start Race 2 from pole position. Unfortunately, the driver of the No. 13 Taxation Mind/Ballena Ford Mustang overshot Turn 1, which opened the room for Casagrande to grab the lead.
Just like Chianca in Race 1, Casagrande showed great speed behind the wheel of the No. 83 Axalta/Militec1 Chevrolet Camaro. The two-time race winner of 2024 extended his lead from anyone not named Leo Reis for lap after lap.
However, that lead was gone when the Safety Car was called on lap 11. The engine in Yoshii’s No. 78 Yticon Ford Mustang blew on the previous lap and as it happened on the front straight, a slowdown was necessary to safely retrieve the stricken blue Mustang.
This set up a two-lap dash to the finish that Casagrande handled beautifully. The 29-year old from Francisco Beltrão beat Reis into Turn 1 and kept the first position to the checkered flag, securing his third win of the season.
A manic restart proved to be the key for Bueno to grab the final podium position in the No. 0 Betnacional Chevrolet Camaro.
Chianca was fourth ahead of Andrade, who beat Backes and Gabryel Romano to win the Challenge classification.
There was more disappointment for Genz, who went for an ambitious overtaking attempt on Beto Monteiro on lap 1 that led to the spin of both drivers.
He eventually crossed the finish line in eleventh overall, seventh in class behind the top-4, Antonio Junqueira (sixth) and Lourenço Beirão (eighth).
Several other drivers also got themselves into minor incidents. Edson Reis suffered a front-left puncture that left him in last place on the final results, while Junqueira and Alexandre Kauê had an early race spin that they recovered quickly.
Championship Standings
Léonardo Reis’ Sprint victory and two seconds in the main Races enabled him to further extend his lead in the overall NASCAR Brasil division standings.
With 181 points to his name, he now has a 26-point lead from the pair of Casagrande and Seid, who moved up to second thanks to Genz’s massive struggles at Potenza.
Genz now has a 49-point deficit, but maintains third in the overall standings. Chianca and the pair of Beirão and Dias filled the top-5 positions with 113 and 106 points respectively.
Sergio Ramalho/Lucas Mendes, Ramasauskas, Brito/Dorivaldo Gondra Jr., Leo Torres and Beto Monteiro/Lopes rounded out the top-10 spots.
In the Challenge division, Martelli’s 14-point lead has been slashed by half. The Goiânia oval winner now has 137 points, seven and fifteen points ahead of Andrade and Backes respectively.
Tozzo, Romano, Luís Trombini, Nick Monteiro, Giovani Girotto, Yoshii and the pair of Brendon Zonta and Kauê – which ran the No. 33 car instead of the No. 24 at Potenza – completed the top-10 in NASCAR Brasil’s second class.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.