In a breathtaking finish, Nicolas Costa won Race 2 of the NASCAR Brasil Series this Sunday (31) at the Interlagos Circuit. The driver, who also won Race 1, showed mastery of the strategies offered by the category and prevailed in the final seconds against Thiago Camilo, winning by a margin of just 0.092 seconds. Here’s how the race unfolded:
The start was released and Victor Andrade, who started from pole position after the inversion of the top-6 from Race 1, bumped wheels with Jorge Martelli, but managed to keep his position.
On the opposite straight, Bruna Tomaselli suffered a touch and crashed her car into the wall, with significant damage. Before the yellow flag was waved, Martelli and Andrade touched, and Thiago Camilo took the lead. The safety car came out on the track.
The restart happened with 18 minutes left on the clock. Camilo defended his position, while Nicolas Costa moved Denis Navarro down to second. Gui Backes made a solid move and climbed to fifth, overtaking Witold Ramasauskas shortly after. Alfredinho Ibiapina seized the moment and also passed Ramasauskas, who dropped to sixth.
On the following lap, Galid Osman went off the track in the ‘S’ and lost several positions. The middle of the pack regrouped and battles grew more intense, especially in the Challenge category, with Murilo Rocha pursuing Backes.
On the eighth lap, Rocha managed to reach fourth place. Shortly after, the safety car was deployed to remove Galid Osman’s car from the track.
Back in the race, Camilo again used the proper line, blocking overtakes. A collision between Murilo Rocha and Denis Navarro ended badly for Juninho Berlanda, who was struck.
The safety car returned to the track to retrieve Berlanda’s car.
The green flag signaled the final lap. Camilo once again managed to prevent Costa from attempting the overtake. In the contest for third place, Ramasauskas, Casagrande and Cacá Bueno were side by side, with Cacá taking the lead among them.
On the main straight, Costa caught Camilo and completed the overtake almost at the finish line to secure his second victory of the day by 0.092 seconds. Bueno finished in third place.
In the Challenge category, Tito Giaffone took the winner’s trophy. Alfredinho Ibiapina and Witold Ramasauskas completed the top three.
RACE 2
1 #69 Nicolas Costa, AMattheis Vogel — in 32m48s872
2 #21 Thiago Camilo, Full Time — by 0s092
3 #0 Cacá Bueno, Team RC — by 1s036
4 #15 Tito Giaffone (Challenge), Full Time — by 2s043
5 #46 Vitor Genz, Full Time — by 3s594
6 #8 Alfredinho Ibiapina (Challenge), Full Time — by 3s603
7 #11 Witold Ramasauskas (Challenge), Team RC — by 3s851
8 #28 Gui Backes (Challenge), AMattheis Vogel — by 3s910
9 #85 Gustavo Bandeira (Challenge), Team RC — by 5s099
10 #25 Tatiana Calderon (Challenge), SG28 by Pole Motorsport — by 5s233
11 #10 Ricardo Zonta, Cavaleiro Sports — by 5s433
12 #83 Gabriel Casagrande, AMattheis Vogel — by 10s984
13 #55 Murilo Rocha (Challenge), Full Time — by 24s409
14 #22 Victor Andrade, Full Time — by 1 lap
15 #57 Felipe Tozzo (Challenge), Team RC — by 3 laps
16 #05 Denis Navarro, Cavaleiro Sports — by 4 laps
17 #17 Juninho Berlanda (Challenge), AMattheis Vogel — by 4 laps
Not Classified (75% = 10 laps)
#99 Galid Osman, Cavaleiro Sports — by 8 laps
#9 Arthur Gama, Cavaleiro Sports — by 12 laps
#34 Dudes Castroneves (Challenge), Pole Motorsport — by 12 laps
#87 Jorge Martelli, Team RC — by 12 laps
#97 Bruna Tomaselli (Challenge), SG28 by Pole Motorsport — by 13 laps
#90 Ricardo Maurício / Alex Seid, Cavaleiro Sports by Pole Motorsport — by 13 laps
Fastest lap: #83 Gabriel Casagrande, AMattheis Vogel — in 1m50s791
