Rubens Barrichello’s hopes for a first NASCAR win were dashed after Léo Torres made a daring overtake to snatch the race victory away from the F1 legend.
NASCAR Brasil once again witnessed a late overtake that determined the winner of the race. 2023 series champion Léo Torres stole victory away from Rubens Barrichello in the closing laps of Race 2 at Londrina.
Torres’ victory avenged his performance from the Sunset Race, where he and Barrichello had a tangle at Turn 8. Ironically, Turn 8 is exactly where Torres made his race-winning overtake on Barrichello in Race 2.
Torres had to fight his way from 10th on the grid, although he started alone from his starting row. Cacá Bueno was due to start in ninth, but mechanical issues from the Sunset Race caused Bueno to accept a pit lane start penalty to give his mechanics more time to fix the problems.
Starting from the fifth row also gave Torres a chance to avoid the mess that took place in the third row. Júlio Campos and Cayan Chianca collided almost immediately, giving both cars terminal damage before they had even reached the first corner.
Torres progressed up to sixth at the end of the opening lap, but he was still some distance behind pole sitter Gabriel Casagrande.
Thiago Camilo quickly dispatched Barrichello and Casagrande to gain the lead on lap 2. The Sunset Race winner was clearly fond of the NASCAR-style “rubbin’ is racing” as he used the “chrome horn” to barge his way forward.
Camilo’s lead was challenged in the first Safety Car period, which was called on lap 6 due to the retirements from the two championship leaders: Casagrande and Jorge Martelli.
Casagrande lost power steering on his No. 83 Axalta / Jupiter Camaro and slowly crawled his way to the pits. Just as Casagrande made it to the pit entry, the suspension in Martelli’s No. 87 Ferticel Camaro broke, sending him into a race-ending spin.
With Martelli’s car stranded, race control had no choice but to bring out the yellow flags. The restart on lap 8 saw Camilo retaining his lead from Barrichello, while Torres moved up to third after he got past Galid Osman.
This green flag period wouldn’t last long. Vitor Genz’s misery at Londrina continued with a spin on lap 9, bringing out the Safety Car for the second time.
The restart on lap 11 saw Camilo retaining his lead at the back straight. However, Barrichello used his “NASCAR Boost” push-to-pass to overtake Camilo on the front straight.
Disaster then struck Camilo with 2 laps to go. Unbeknownst to him, Full Time Sports made the fatal error of short fueling Camilo’s No. 21 Pixpay Ford. It was only when the fuel warning light started to blink on lap 14 that he and the team realized their mistake.
Torres was up to second and decided that it’s now or never. The 2023 champion used his own push-to-pass to get alongside Barrichello in Turn 7, making sure that the ex-Ferrari driver had to surrender a car-sized gap for the next corner.
Sure enough, Barrichello was unable to defend the place and Torres shot his way to the lead in the No. 2 Maxon Oil / M1 Motors Ford. Torres then defended like mad on the final lap to secure his first win of 2025.
Barrichello narrowly held on to second, just beating Victor Andrade by 0.023 seconds at the line. Andrade grabbed his first podium finish thanks to a post-race penalty administered to Osman, courtesy of unsportsmanlike blocking to Alfredinho Ibiapina.
Ibiapina still finished fourth, completing his sweep in the Challenge division at Londrina. Beto Monteiro completed the top-5 as a substitute for his son Nick, who was racing in the United States that weekend.
Portuguese veteran Lourenço Beirão was sixth ahead of Witold Ramasauskas, Felipinho Tozzo, Bueno and the penalized Osman. Tito Giaffone and Ricardo Zonta took the final points paying positions in 11th and 12th.
Behind them, there was a mess that took place just as the leaders started their final lap. Camilo, struggling to save fuel, was tagged by Raphael Teixeira on the front straight.
This small contact was enough to cause both Camilo and Gabryel Romano to crash really hard on the front straight pit wall.
Despite their stricken cars laying around by the pit exit, race control decided that the leaders should race back to the line. That being said, they would ultimately give Teixeira a disqualification for his dangerous driving.
Championship Standings
Despite his retirement, Challenge leader Jorge Martelli maintains his lead in the overall championship. With 46 points, a slim margin of one point separated Martelli to runner-up Gabriel Casagrande, who gained five points in Race 2 from his pole position in the Superpole session.
Vitor Genz’s buffer from Campo Grande was enough to keep him in third place. Rubens Barrichello is two points behind in fourth, continuing his quick adaptation to the intense world of NASCAR stock car racing.
Léo Torres’ win at Londrina allowed him to move up to fifth with 41 points on his name. Alfredinho Ibiapina is Martelli’s closest Challenge chaser in sixth overall, 12 points adrift from the No. 87 car.
Witold Ramasauskas, Thiago Camilo, Galid Osman and Victor Andrade complete the top-10 positions. Felipinho Tozzo is third amongst the Challenge contenders in 11th.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.