Antonella Bassani and Leticia Bufoni teamed up in an all-female crew for the Porsche C6 Bank Endurance Challenge at Estoril: the duo made significant progress in the first stint when they led in their class before car issues resulted in a P32 overall and P6 class finish in their endurance debut.
Porsche Cup Brasil stars Antonella Bassani – who sealed her first championship title in the Challenge category in 2023, on her debut season in GT cars – and Leticia Bufoni teamed up in an all female duo for the Porsche C6 Bank Endurance Challenge event in Estoril, Portugal. The two female drivers shared the #72 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car in the Challenge Rookie class, in a huge 80-driver field that saw some of the biggest stars in Brazilian motorsport gathering for the occasion.
Bassani, who recently turned 18, is contesting her second season in the Porsche Cup Brasil championship and has already collected three race wins this year in just as many rounds, in her attempt to defend the title.
Both sponsored by Mobil 1 in a team that also sees female engineers and mechanics, Bassani is acting as a mentor to racing rookie Leticia Bufoni, a world-renowned skateboarder and multiple-time X-Games gold medalist.
Bufoni is in fact contesting her first campaign at the wheel of a GT race car, although motorsport has been one of her interests throughout her career. On her very first weekend in the Trophy series – a developmental category designed to collect experience at the wheel of the 991 Porsche GT3 Cup – bagged a top five in class, and showcased great potential in mixed weather in the following weekends.
The launch of the Porsche C6 Bank Endurance Challenge was therefore a good opportunity for both drivers to expand their presence in the Porsche ladder and learn the new format in a highly competitive field.
“The Endurance race increases the level of competitiveness a lot, but I'm taking this as a good learning experience for the Sprint championship next week", Bassani said before the event at Estoril. "Being here with a female team and being able to help Leticia has done me a lot of good, I feel like I had to delve even deeper into the data to be able to help her here in Estoril."
"I'm getting a lot of help from Antonella, Max and the entire Porsche team", Bufoni continued. "I have now arrived in the category and this is my first time in the Challenge car. It's a more powerful car than the Trophy and the brakes are different too. I’m already used to the car and the track, now we’re working on the details to set the best time possible". she added after the practice sessions.
The drivers of the #72 Porsche made up ground throughout the weekend, with very solid progress across the sessions on a new track. On the pre-event test, they set the tenth-fastest time, then significantly closed the gaps during the official practice, where they ran sixth among the Challenge entries, less than a second from the pace setters.
Bassani would set a 1:42.034 in her qualifying run, with her teammate clocking a 1:44.986, in a positive effort that gained them third place in the Challenge Rookie class, and P35 overall on the starting grid for Saturday's 3 hour race.
"We are still far from the time of other cars, especially the pros, but I hope our progress is good and puts us in the last stage in the fight for the championship", Bassani commented. "I trained on the simulator before coming here, so I was able to adapt faster. For Leticia, everything is new, the car and the track, so we are working on this process of adapting her.”
The 300 km race turned out to be an action-packed thriller, with drivers such as former F1 racer Rubens Barrichello, Antonio Felix da Costa, Tony Kanaan Luiz Razia and Nelson Piquet Jr among the protagonists of the 40 car field.
Competing in the Challenge Rookie class, Antonella Bassani and Leticia Bufoni eventually faced early setbacks, and had to resort to a spare car due to issues with their primary car.
However, the duo made impressive progress in the early stages of the race, when Bassani navigated through the field and advanced to second in class – then took over the class lead just one lap later. Her pace was impressive, gaining six places overall and breaking into the top 30.
Over three seconds faster than her class rivals, the #72 Porsche of Bassani and Bufoni pulled away in the first laps. A safety car was deployed due to a collision that eliminated the #22 car driven by Caio Castro. By this time, Bassani had climbed to P24 overall, matching the pace of some 992 cars.
Bassani would continue her charge up the field, eventually reaching P20 overall by lap 13, having gained 16 places and overtaking two Carrera Cup cars, making her the biggest mover in the field. As the pit window opened on lap 17, she pitted from P1 in class and P20 overall.
However, an issue emerged and a slow pit stop dropped the team down to P6 in class and P32 overall. Despite this setback, they continued to post competitive lap times, moving up to fifth in class by lap 30, but technical issues persisted throughout the following stints, also forcing the drivers to unscheduled pit stops in the second half of the race.
Nevertheless they persevered and, albeit five laps down from the class leader, Bufoni took the chequered flag in P32 overall and P6 in class.
“It was a race that helped me gain a lot of experience, it was my first Porsche Endurance race and I really enjoyed it", said Bassani. "It also helped Leticia gain experience with this car, we did a lot of work with her, I confess that I am learning a lot and I think that in the next races we will arrive stronger.”
"I had my first contact with this car two days ago, a different car from what I'm used to, but one that I really liked", Bufoni added. "I managed to adapt to the car, but there is still more time on the track for me to master the car better."
"It was a lot of pressure to compete in a pair with a driver of Antonella's level, I tried my best but we had a problem with the car, but it's experience for the next time", Leticia concluded.
While the next Endurance round is scheduled for Termas del Rio Hondo, Argentina, in September, the Porsche Cup Brasil will return to its sprint format for a back to back weekend in Portugal, in a week's time.
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