Driver who races for AMattheis Vogel in NASCAR Brasil, Gabriel Casagrande took the championship lead after finishing in second place in the Sprint Race of the sixth round of the 2026 season, held at the Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna, in Londrina (PR). The Paraná native showed good speed throughout the day and battled for the victory until the final meters in the weekend’s shortest race, earning eight points and taking the top spot in the standings.
After a free practice session in which he completed only a few laps, Casagrande joined the first group of drivers to head out onto the track in the opening phase of qualifying, managing to advance into the top 12 in the combined results from the two groups. In Q2, the driver of car number 83 posted the second-fastest time, qualifying for the Sprint Race, where he fought for the victory until the final meters in the northern Paraná region.
“It was a positive Saturday. We adopted a strategy to limit tire wear; it was important to be able to do a few laps today without burning the tires, and that’s what we did. In qualifying it was the usual chaos, as the cars provide a lot of tow. I was in the first group, so we suffered because of the Truck’s rubber on the track, and only two drivers from my group advanced to Q2, Thiago (Camilo) and me,” Casagrande said.
“And then we moved on to Sprint Racing with the best times. In the race, we duelled for the victory. I’m happy and pleased, because we carried 25 kilograms more for entering the round in second place in the championship, and now we’re leading. The main competitors start a little further back, but you can’t rule out Thiago. We’ll fight for a win, but the goal is always to score more points,” concluded Gabriel Casagrande, who is sponsored by Jupiter Batteries, Axalta, Cresol, OnPetro, STP, RP Info, UFI Filters and Aeropark Camboriú.
The NASCAR Brasil holds two races on Sunday, the first starting at 8:55 a.m., with coverage by SBT and N Sports, while the second race is scheduled for 1:55 p.m., with Disney+ broadcasting. YouTube will stream both races live.
