The weekend had Brazilians competing in Formula 2, Formula 3, DTM, Nascar and W Series. Besides Felipe Drugovich, check out everything that was talked about by national athletes over the past few days in motor sports
The weekend of motorsports reserved disputes to several Brazilians, who were on the track during the last three days, standing out in the most varied categories of motor sports. Felipe Drugovich, the Formula 2 leader, guaranteed a 42-point gap to second place Théo Pourchaire after another successful round at Silverstone.
The Brazilian - who completed race 1 in the fifth position and race 2 in the fourth - pointed out that he hadn't practiced with the new clutch of the MP car, which brought an extra challenge during the British GP. Still, he achieved two good results and remains firmly on his way to the F2 title.
"Today was a relatively difficult day as well," Drugovich admitted. "My car had a new clutch, which caused me to lose reference, since I couldn't practice this procedure and Saturday's start was on the move. I recovered a position at the end. It wasn't ideal, it was a difficult weekend, but I managed to score well and now we'll focus on the next round", he concluded.
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In the same championship, Enzo Fittipaldi saw the points slip away on the last lap, after finishing on the podium in race 1 and gaining some positions at the start of race 2. Riding in seventh, Enzo saw his performance drop after changing from soft tires to hard ones and was losing positions, until he found himself in 11th place on the last lap - the first position outside the scoring zone.
"The weekend was good, even though we came away with no points today," Fittipaldi began. "I got my second podium in the category and showed a good performance. Unfortunately, the car lost performance after the pit-stop, but I was still close to the top-10. We will work to keep scoring points in the next rounds," said Enzo.
Caio Collet fought until the end for the podium at Silverstone after starting in fourth place and losing three positions in the first corner, but the recovery was not enough. The Brazilian even managed to get the third place, but lost a position to Oliver Bearman in the end and ended up out of the podium. With the result, the Alpine Academy driver entered the top-10 in the F3 classification and became 8th place.
"It was a solid weekend, today we didn't have much pace to attack the first two drivers, and it was a shame to miss the podium at the end, but from the beginning we were suffering a bit," Collet admitted. "Now we are back in the top-10, we made a good step, I can say that we achieved our goal of being competitive in the main race. We still have a bit to go before we can fight for the wins, but we've evolved.
In the Nascar Xfinity Series, Miguel Paludo made a sensational recovery from 25th place to seventh in the last segment, but an accident - with which the Brazilian had nothing to do - put everything to waste. Looking for a place in the top ten, Paludo saw his pace happening in the same rhythm of the top five, which made the driver of the #88 Camaro dream of a top-5 position.
And it was coming, with Paludo climbing the field in each segment and taking advantage of the right moments to go to the pits. However, an accident right in front of him left Sammy Smith's car stranded on the track - and Miguel had no time to swerve. With heavy damage to the hood, Paludo had to abandon the race.
"The weekend was very good and the race pace was satisfactory," said the Brazilian. "Noah and Allmendinger, who are two very fast guys, were behind me and couldn't pass me. And I managed to pass two very fast competitors, which left us with pace to finish between sixth and seventh place. I was able to save the tires well, a characteristic of mine, and I felt I could recover well," he said.
"I passed the first crash in the scare, but in the second I had nothing to do and that ended the day," he admitted. "According to the team's calculations, I was supposed to come back seventh and get a top-10 right, with a chance of top-5. I was turning qualifying time at the end of the race, with the used tire. The rhythm we lacked in practice for adapting to the car, and especially in braking, we managed in the race. But unfortunately it ended with a race accident that got out of control. The next round is in less than a month and I'm excited," he closed.
In the W Series, Bruna Tomaselli had problems with the car's electrical system in the practice sessions for the British GP, and Racing X couldn't solve the problem until qualifying. As a result, the Brazilian driver left the 14th place and had to look for a recovery race, gaining three positions to finish with the 11th place in Silverstone - in a day of another victory of Jamie Chadwick.
"My goal here at Silverstone was to position myself better on the grid. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible and I knew it was all or nothing," he admitted. "Between zeroing in the points by trying and zeroing out by doing a conservative race, I'd rather try. Of course, I would have liked to at least score. The race was busy back there, and by the time I managed to pass Tereza [Babickova], I was well clear of the other pack," he lamented.
"I kept myself in contention to stay in the top ten," she pointed out. "Of course, my goal was to leave here with a lot of points accumulated, at least, repeating what we did in Miami. But, that wasn't what happened, and given the scenario we had, the loss wasn't the worst", Bruna concluded.
Finally, Felipe Fraga had an unforgettable day in the DTM when he won race 2 at the Norisring, taking his first victory in the category by dominating the race from pole position and winning from end to end. The Red Bull AF Corse driver had to fend off attacks from GRT's Mirko Bortolotti, but overcame his rival with a quick pit stop at the end to secure his first win.
"I gave my life until the pit-stops, I pushed hard," Fraga said after the win. "I tried to stop looking in the mirror, because Bortolotti wouldn't let me breathe. But at the stop I think we created a good distance, and from then on it was calmer. It was a perfect race, very important for the team as well. We had so many problems and so many things going on, but the best thing today was that they were a big part of this victory," he celebrated.
"I always fought for a chance at Red Bull, the big one, and this year they gave me that opportunity," he stressed. "It's very special for me to just be here, fighting with these guys. And when you can win a race like this, it's a life goal. I'm very happy. I used to watch Rene [Rast] back when Augusto [Farfus] was in the DTM, and it's a pleasure for me to be able to fight with these guys and win the race, so in the end I'm very proud," he finished.
