Stock Car's current champion wins for the second time in the season. But Casagrande had to sweat a lot to beat Ricardo Zonta. César Ramos closes the top three
Gabriel Casagrande continued with his excellent performance in the classification winning race 1 of the Stock Car Championship, held this Saturday (2) at Velopark Speedway. The A. Mattheis Vogel pilot fought a great duel against Ricardo Zonta to get his second win of the season.
César Ramos, from Ipiranga Racing, rounded out the top three in the race. For arriving in 10th place, Nelsinho Piquet will start from the pole-position in race 2.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows the Stock Car activitiesLIVE with full coverage of all the activities of the two stages to be held this weekend at Velopark. Race 2 will take place later today, starting at 2:45 pm (Brasília time).
Learn how Race 1 went at Velopark:
The race at Velopark started under blue skies and with some particularities: two presentation laps and with a greater distance between the drivers, for being the shortest circuit on the calendar.
At the start, Casagrande was aggressive towards Zonta and kept the lead. Serra put pressure on Rossi in the search for the sixth position. And Ramos was holding Gomes for third place. Before the end of the second lap, the A. Mattheis Vogel driver was 1s3 ahead of the second place.
The track is braked and allows few overtaking zones, so the fan-push is essential to accomplish the maneuver. On lap 6, Felipe Baptista and Gianluca Petecof almost collided and put their races at risk. Meanwhile, Casagrande was quietly on the lead. At the back of the pack, Beto Monteiro had abandoned the race with only four laps completed.
In the opening of the eighth lap Gomes side-stepped Ramos and moved up to third. In the following lap, the Ipiranga pilot did the same and regained the position. Further back, Cardoso and Jimenez were fighting for positions and almost got into an accident.
On lap 11, Campos and Serra fought a great duel for seventh place. Lap 13, it was time for the opening of the pit-stop window. Petecof, however, was the first to go to the pits, but with car problems. End of race for him!
Marcos Gomes, from Cavaleiro, also abandoned the race. Zonta's masterstroke in the pit stop, who left ahead of Casagrande in the pits. Felipe Baptista had his car blacked out during the pit-stop. With 12 minutes to go, Gabriel retook the lead when he passed Zonta on the pit lane.
On the 20th lap, Zonta passed Casagrande again and regained the lead. The race direction announced a 20s penalty for Denis Navarro for speeding in the pit-stop. Two laps later, another great maneuver by Casagrande over Zonta and the lead for the reigning Stock Car champion.
On lap 28, Thiago Camilo makes an excellent maneuver over Guilherme Salas and takes eighth place. The position is important for those who will start from the pole position in race 2. At the front, Casagrande opened a good advantage over Zonta and conquered his second victory of the season.
Stock Car 2022, 5th Stage, Velopark, Race 1, Final Result