Kaká Magno and Bruna Tomaselli were back behind the wheel for the second round of the Brazilian Stock Series at International Tarumã Circuit.
After a month break since its opening races at Interlagos, the Brazilian Stock Series returned to the track last weekend in a circuit that despite being in existence for a long time, was unknown for most drivers on the grid. The second round of the championship also brought a curious fact: among the 12 drivers, only Gabriel Robe - one of Bruna Tomaselli's teammates in the Garra Racing Team - had in fact previously raced in the International Tarumã Circuit, in Viamão, which did not appear in the Stock Car Pro access category calendar since 2015.
During this period, the circuit received some interventions to improve safety conditions, corrections in protection barriers and reconstruction of some kerbs. But the track, which is 3,039 meters long and nine turns distributed along its course, had its resurfacing postponed to a second stage of work. Even so, the weekend was marked by the heavy accident of Dudu Barrichello - son and teammate of Rubens Barrichello in Stock Car Pro, during a free practice session and which left his car heavily damaged after contact with the barriers.
In Stock Series, the first trackl action followed on the morning of Friday, May 19th. In free practice, both Kaká Magno and Bruna Tomaselli focused on learning and adapting to the track, expecting an evolution in lap times. There was a constant change between the leaders of each session: Gabriel Robe, who had been the fastest in FP3, secured pole position for races 1 and 2. Tomaselli was classified in 7th place on the starting grid for both stages and Magno in 12th.
RACE 1
When the safety car left the track on Saturday afternoon, the 12 drivers started the first race of the weekend. In the first moves, pole-sitter Gabriel Robe remained ahead of the pack, but Arthur Gama had his second place taken from Mathias De Valle. The two led until the end with Robe securing his first win of the weekend. A little further back, Bruna Tomaselli in car #97 from Garra Racing Team also made a great start, overtaking Hugo Cibien and moving up to P6. Kaká Magno started in 12th place and held position in the opening laps.
Coming in 7th position, just behind Tomaselli, Hugo Cibien almost caused an accident after spinning on track, but the following drivers managed to take evasive action. He dropped to 11th place, however Magno couldn't immediately get ahead. Bruna Tomaselli was performing well, but her car started to show problems, causing her to lose pace and a few positions - first to Felipe Barrichello, and then to Vinicius Papareli.
She would drop to 10th, after being passed by Felipe Papazissis and Enzo Bedani on lap 11. Nevertheless, Tomaselli recovered one position before the end and finished race 1 in 9th place. Kaká Magno moved up to 11th after Bedani had problems and had to pit. The W2 Pro GP driver retired and the race ended with Gabriel Robe in 1st place, Bruna Tomaselli in 9th and Kaká Magno in 11th.
After the first race, Bruna Tomaselli recapped what happened and kept high hopes for the second day of competitions: "I was doing very well in the first few laps, but something happened to the car, something we still don't know what it must have been, and I ended up losing a little performance during the race and losing some positions", she explained.
"Now we are going to check what it is, we are going to improve, change it, so that tomorrow in both races we can look for better results."
RACE 2
The second day of racing was marked mainly by the fog that took over the race track on Sunday morning. Race 2 was scheduled to start at 9:05 am local time, and as in the previous race, Gabriel Robe was on pole position. Bruna Tomaselli and Kaká Magno also started in the same positions - P7 and P12 respectively.
When the lights went out, Bruna Tomaselli wasn't so lucky and was overtaken by Felipe Barrichello in the first corners of the Tarumã circuit, dropping to 8th place. Further ahead, Zezinho Muggiati managed to take second place from Mathias de Valle and put pressure on the race leader Robe, who defended well.
Hugo Cibien and Bruna Tomaselli had an intense fight in the following laps. By lap 2 Cibien had overtaken Tomaselli, who was still fighting to regain her position. On lap 4, though, the two made contact and Bruna Tomaselli ended up with the right front tire of her #97 car punctured. She pitted and, after evaluation by her team, she ended up retiring from the race to save the car for race 3, which would happen later in the day.
Two laps later, Enzo Bedani lost control of his #38 car and crashed, causing the safety car to be deployed for the first time of the weekend. At the same time, Felipe Papazissis hit trouble and his car stopped on track, having to be removed by the track marshals. The green flag was waved with just over 7 minutes left on the clock and Kaká Magno was already up to 9th.
With two minutes to go, Arthur Gama lost control of the car and went off. Despite the scare, he managed to get back into the race, one position behind Magno, who had moved up to eighth place. The battle for the podium was intense in the final minutes, but Gabriel Robe opened a 1.5 second gap ahead and secured another victory. On the last lap, Gama, who was trying to recover, overtook Kaká Magno, who crossed the finish line in 9th place and added important points for the championship.
RACE 3
With the reverse grid, Arthur Gama was the pole sitter for the final race of the weekend; Felipe Papazissis had to start from the pits, as well as Bruna Tomaselli due to the tire punctures that caused him to retire in race 2. Kaká Magno lined up in 9th. Right at the start, the first incident of the race saw Hugo Cibien making contact with Zezinho Muggiati at turn 1. The two spun, but were able to rejoin, avoided by the cars behind - including Magno - who passed both unharmed.
Still on the first lap, Muggiati received two drive-through penalties for jumping the start. Bruna Tomaselli, who was making a recovery race, still appeared at the end of the grid, in 11th - as Enzo Bedani was unable to participate in race 3, since there was no time to repair the damage picked up in his crash in the first race of the day. Kaká Magno maintained a good pace and was in 8th position.
On lap 4, Mathias De Valle took the lead, where he would remain until the end despite pressure from Felipe Barrichello. With Zezinho Muggiati's penalties, the drivers behind him gained a position and, after Hugo Cibien made a pit-stop, Tomaselli also overtook Papazissis to grab 7th place. At this moment Kaká Magno was in 9th place, ahead of Muggiati and Cibien.
The penultimate lap in Tarumã was quite hectic: Felipe Barrichello made a mistake and reported steering problems, dropping to eighth place. Pietro Rimbano also had problems - and therefore Robe and Papazissis inherited the podium. Bruna Tomaselli finished the race in P7 and Kaká Magno in P9. After the end of on-track activities, Pietro Rimbano was disqualified from the two races of the day, after the stewards detected a fuel problem in his car. Thus, Tomaselli moved up to 6th and Magno to 8th - the latter claiming the same result of race 2.
"We finished the second round with a great evolution that we had throughout the weekend. It was a fast track and very challenging, but we leave here with P8 in the general classification and P6 among the Rookies."
"We got P11 in race one and P8 in races 2 and 3. We evolved together and we're on the right track!" - said Kaká Magno about the results obtained at Tarumã Circuit.
In the championship standings, Zezinho Muggiati kept the lead, now with 141 points. Kaká Magno collected 38 points in the second round and is in 8th, tied with Hugo Cibien, who also has 74 points. Bruna Tomaselli rounds out the top 10 with 57 points.
Stock Series will return on June 18 at Zilmar Beux Circuit, in Cascavel - one of the most traditional circuits and which has the fastest layout in Brazil.
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